Environmental advocates recycle campaign against plastic packaging for new session

Environmental advocates are gearing up for a fresh fight over plastic waste. They’re descending on the state Capitol Tuesday, the day of the joint budget hearing on environmental conservation, to push for legislation that would reduce plastic packaging and update New York’s bottle bill. But opponents of the legislation will also be making their voices heard to lawmakers early.

Lawmakers came close to approving the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act last session. That bill would require the state to reduce its use of single-use plastic packaging by 30% over the next 12 years. The bill would do this through the creation of an extended producer responsibility program, which would put the cost of recycling on the plastics producers by requiring companies that sell or distribute certain plastic packaging materials and have over $1 million in annual revenue to pay a fee that would go to municipalities. The bill would also ban a process called “chemical recycling” that environmental advocates say causes more pollution.

The legislation passed the state Senate last year and nearly passed in the Assembly as well, making it out of multiple committees. Judith Enck, the president of the group Beyond Plastics, blamed the fallout from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s surprise decision to pause congestion pricing last June for the bill’s failure to make it over the finish line. “They literally ran out of time,” Enck said.

This year, Enck and other advocates plan to focus more attention on the growing body of research that shows the myriad concerning places microplastics are being found. “Every month, there's a major scientific paper identifying the presence of microplastics in different parts of our body, so we will be leaning into the health issue in a big way,” she said. The campaign will also lean more heavily into messaging around making polluters pay after the Climate Change Superfund Act received Hochul’s signature last year. 

But the legislation continues to face staunch opposition from the plastics industry and business groups. And in a sign that they’re taking the renewed push for the bill seriously, members of the Plastics Industry Association will also be in Albany on Tuesday for the second day of what they’re calling a “fly-in” to meet with lawmakers. “Our Albany meetings are an opportunity to collaborate with elected officials on crafting legislation that improves recycling infrastructure, fosters end markets for recyclable materials, and supports innovative recycling technologies – all without increasing costs for New Yorkers,” association CEO Matt Seaholm said in a statement. The industry and other business leaders have expressed support for a version of an extended producer responsibility program – just not the one described in the current legislation.

Enck said that she’s never before seen the plastics industry engage in any similar level of overt activism in the state Capitol. But she welcomes their presence as evidence that the bill is being taken seriously, even if it still faces hurdles. “That’s a good sign,” Enck said of the opposition. “I love it.”

Advocates on Tuesday will also kick off a new year’s campaign for legislation known as the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, which would update the state’s bottle deposit program. The bill would increase the deposit fee from 5¢ to 10¢, make more kinds of bottles and cans eligible for deposits and raise the handling fee to help redemption centers stay open. 

The New York Public Interest Research Group, a good government group supporting the new bottle bill, released a new analysis on Tuesday that found that updating the law would generate $100 million in new revenue for the state. “We’re adding something new as to why they should consider this in the budget,” said Blair Horner, senior policy adviser for NYPIRG. He is scheduled to testify at the joint budget hearing about the potential benefits of adding the measure to this year’s spending plan, which include both raising revenue for the state and reducing the amount of waste headed into landfills that the state acknowledges are nearing capacity.

The new bottle bill has faced opposition from business groups, as well as some labor groups like the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO. Unlike the recycling bill, it did not pass either chamber last year. But Horner said that movement last year to resolve differences between the state Senate and Assembly versions of the bill puts efforts to pass the bill in a much better place this year. 

“I’m an eternal optimist,” he said.