Environmental advocates are urging New York lawmakers to pass a bill that would make companies, not taxpayers, responsible for packaging waste.
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is based on extended producer responsibility, which requires companies to fund systems that collect and process the materials they produce.
“If you’re going to make something as a company, you’re going to contribute to the system that will collect and process that material to keep it out of landfills and out of the environment,” said Mitch Ratcliffe of the environmental group Earth 911.
The proposed legislation has passed the Senate for the past 2 years but has yet to reach the Assembly floor for a vote.
The proposed bill would:
- Reduce plastic packaging by 30% over the next 12 years.
- Require all packaging — including plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, and metal — to meet a 75% recycling rate by 2052, with incremental benchmarks along the way.
- Ban 17 of the most harmful chemicals used in packaging, including PFAS, PVC, lead, and mercury.
- Prohibit chemical recycling from being counted as real recycling.
- Establish a modest packaging fee paid by producers, with revenue directed to local taxpayers.
- Create an Office of Recycling Inspector General to ensure compliance.
Ratcliffe said the goal should be to build a “circular economy,” where materials get reused instead of thrown away.
"We need to get to an environment in which we see everything not as waste, but as potential materials for the next generation of products … to think in terms of a circle instead of a line," he said.
The bill could save New Yorkers an estimated $1.3 billion over the next decade while reducing plastic and toxic chemicals in packaging, according to a report from Beyond Plastics, a national environmental organization.
Some in the business community oppose the legislation, warning that fees and restrictions could increase costs for consumers. They have backed a competing measure, the Affordable Waste Reduction Act, which avoids outright bans on materials.
Lawmakers will not be able to consider either bill until the next legislative session begins in January 2026.
This story includes material from an interview with Mitch Ratcliffe by WAER’s Chris Bolt on his “Deeper Shade of Green” podcast.