New York is considering 2 bills to reduce plastic pollution and boost reusables.
Can you help urge our state reps to vote YES?
These bills reduce packaging waste, tackle litter, save taxpayer money, create good green jobs, hold corporations accountable and more.
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The Bigger Better Bottle Bill would:
- Expand the bottle bill and create more consistency by including sports drinks, iced tea and more. More beverage types being included in the program means more recycling, less confusion and less pollution.
- Raise the deposit from 5¢ to 10¢ to increase redemption rates, support some of New York’s most marginalized workers and further reduce litter. The nickel deposit was put into place in 1983, if that nickel was adjusted for inflation, it would be 15¢ today.
- Include a reuse and refill quota, which has never been passed in the US before. Major beverage companies would be required to sell 25% of their beverages in reusable bottles by 2030.
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would:
- Require companies to reduce their single-use packaging by 50% in 12 years, with the remaining 50% redesigned to be refillable, reusable or truly recyclable.
- Ban a dozen of the most toxic chemicals used in packaging, including PFAs, benzene, toluene, phthalates, bisphenols and heavy metals.
- Make companies legally and financially responsible for their pollution and discarded product packaging, instead of leaving taxpayers to foot the bill as we currently do; This would provide much-needed taxpayer relief and funding for New York's municipal recycling and composting programs and infrastructure.
Why is single-use plastic packaging waste such an issue in New York?
- Plastic is a major climate change polluter at every stage of its life cycle. In fact, if plastic were a country it would be the world's fifth largest greenhouse gas polluter.
- 40% of plastic production is to make single-use items that clog our landfills, pollute our air, water and soil when burned in incinerators, or end up littering our environment.
- New York has a whopping 10 municipal waste incinerators, tied with Florida for the most incinerators in any U.S. state. These facilities produce hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases, air pollution and toxic ash each year. The ash from incinerators is so toxic that it has to be stored in yet another landfill known as a toxic ash dump.
- New York City spends $429 million each year to export roughly 5 million tons of its waste to incinerators and landfills in other states or to the Finger Lakes in upstate NY.
