LODI, Calif. — A battle has been waging in Sacramento over whether beverage cartons — the ones used for milk, juice, broth, wine, even egg whites — should get the coveted chasing arrows recycling label.

Earlier this year, the state agency in charge of recycling, CalRecycle, determined the cartons were probably not eligible, because they weren’t being sorted and recycled by the vast majority of the state’s waste haulers, a requirement of the state’s “Truth in Recycling” law, Senate Bill 54.

Three months later, the agency reversed course.

The label is critical for product and packaging companies to keep selling in California as the state’s single-use packaging law goes fully into effect. It calls for all single-use packaging products to be recyclable or compostable by 2032. If they’re not

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