Senate Passes Major Plastic Reduction Bill; Faith Leaders Urge Assembly to Follow Suit and Put People Over Plastic
As Plastics and Chemical Industries Peddle Deceptions, Faith Leaders Serving Diverse Communities Urge Assembly Members to Pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act
For Immediate Release: May 29, 2025
Contacts:
Marissa Solomon, marissa@pythiapublic.com, (734) 330-0807
Judith Enck, judithenck@bennington.edu, (518) 605-1770
Yesterday, the New York State Senate voted 33-25 to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464 Harckham/A1749 Glick).
Today, 130 faith leaders from across New York sent a letter to the New York State Assembly urging them to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464 Harckham/A1749 Glick).
In recent weeks, the chemical and plastics industries have spread misinformation about the legislation. Faith leaders condemned and debunked their claims while sharing how the legislation will benefit environmental justice communities, protect the health of families, and save tax dollars.
In the letter, faith leaders write, “As faith leaders serving a diversity of communities of New York, we write to you with a sense of urgency, conviction, and deep concern. We stand united in our opposition to the tactics currently being employed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and its corporate allies to manipulate, deceive, and mislead vulnerable communities in order to protect the profits of billion-dollar corporations, even at the expense of our health, environment, and well-being.”
Read the full letter here and pasted below.
Despite the chemical and plastic industry’s claims, the legislation won’t raise grocery prices. According to Consumer Reports, “It is important to note that there is no evidence that consumer prices go up as a result of an extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy. A study funded by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality analyzed actual prices of products on shelves before and after EPR legislation was passed in Canada and found that they did not increase. In Europe, which has had packaging EPR programs in operation for over 35 years, prices have also remained stable.”
Amid the well-funded, deceptive opposition, the New York State Senate stood against plastic pollution and passed the legislation yesterday. Advocates celebrated the Senate’s passage of the legislation:
"This is the most comprehensive plastic reduction legislation in the nation. The plastics and chemical lobbyists are waging a ferocious fight in Albany to derail this bill, but New York state senators know they were elected to save taxpayers money and protect New Yorkers’ health. Congratulations and thank you to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, bill sponsor Senator Pete Harckham, and the 35 senators who stood up to polluter pressure. Now, the State Assembly must pass this bill before they adjourn in June," said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator.
“The Senate’s approval of the Packaging Reduction Act flips the script — putting the cost of packaging waste where it belongs: on the companies that create it, not the communities left to clean it up. This bill doesn’t just cut trash — it cuts toxins, climate pollution, and taxpayer waste. It’s smart, overdue, and deeply popular. Now the Assembly needs to bring it home,” said Vanessa Fajans-Turner, executive director of Environmental Advocates NY.
“New York’s worsening solid waste crisis needs aggressive action. This legislation establishes the concept that producers must be responsible for the wastes they create. NYPIRG applauds today’s Senate passage and urges the Assembly to act on it quickly,” said Blair Horner, NYPIRG senior policy advisor.
"The Senate's actions today showed they listened to the majority of constituents and supporters who want to fight plastic pollution and create a healthier New York. It's now essential that the Assembly moves swiftly to pass this significant bill into law so these benefits can be delivered to the community," said Zach Head, Only One campaign manager.
Previously this legislative session, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act passed the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee and the Assembly Codes Committee. Next, it will be voted on in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. Earlier this month, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie indicated the bill will come to a floor vote this session.
LETTER
Thursday, May 29, 2025
To the Honorable Members of the New York State Assembly,
As faith leaders serving a diversity of communities of New York, we write to you with a sense of urgency, conviction, and deep concern. We stand united in our opposition to the tactics currently being employed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and their corporate allies to manipulate, deceive, and mislead vulnerable communities in order to protect the profits of billion-dollar corporations, even at the expense of our health, environment, and well-being.
The ACC, representing corporations such as Dow, Dupont, and Exxon, has spent over $1 million to block the proposed Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S.1464 / A.1749). This bill seeks to reduce plastic packaging in New York by 30% over the next 12 years, while also removing the 16 most toxic chemicals used in plastic packaging — chemicals that are often found in products consumed by our families. The truth is that the packaging used for many food and beverage products threatens the health of New Yorkers, particularly those in vulnerable communities.
The corporate narrative being spread by the ACC is not only false; it is also deeply insulting. It claims that the bill will make consumer products unaffordable and unavailable. This is a lie, pure and simple. The bill protects the health of our communities and our future from toxic plastic pollution.
It is an immoral and manipulative tactic for these corporate interests to use communities of color as pawns to preserve their bottom lines. By focusing their efforts on lobbying the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian American Legislative Caucus, they are attempting to create division and fear where none should exist. These industries have long profited from exploiting the land, air, and health of our communities, especially in areas where toxic facilities like garbage incinerators and petrochemical plants are concentrated. Now, they are attempting to divide us to maintain a system that is killing us.
Let us be clear: The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is not only an environmental issue — it is also a matter of justice, health, and equity. Many of the worst polluting industries are concentrated in environmental justice communities, and these industries are poisoning our children and families with toxins and microplastics. Chemicals found in plastic packaging are linked to health problems like cancer, hormone disruption, and developmental disorders, particularly in children. The bill will eliminate the use of the most dangerous chemicals in food and beverage packaging, protecting the health of all New Yorkers.
Moreover, we speak from a place of concern for the communities that bear the brunt of the harmful consequences of these industries. Garbage incinerators in Peekskill, Poughkeepsie and Niagara Falls, which disproportionately impact low-income and communities of color, release dangerous air pollutants that exacerbate respiratory diseases like asthma — already a significant problem in many of our neighborhoods.
Additionally, the expansion of petrochemical production, including plastic production, creates long-term environmental damage, contributing to climate change and harming the health of future generations. The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would help prevent further degradation and ensure that New York is a leader in the fight for environmental justice.
We know that affordable, healthy food options can exist without the toxic burden of plastic packaging. It is not only possible, it is necessary. As faith leaders, we are called to protect the most vulnerable among us, and the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is a crucial step toward achieving a healthier, more just future for our children, our communities, and our state.
We urge you, as members of the New York State Assembly, to stand with us and reject the deceptive narratives being peddled by the ACC. Stand with our communities. Stand for justice. Support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act and help us protect the health of our families and the future of New York State.
BACKGROUND
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464 Harckham/A1749 Glick) will transform the way our goods are packaged. It will dramatically reduce waste and ease the burden on taxpayers by making companies, not consumers, cover the cost of managing packaging. The bill will:
Reduce plastic packaging by 30% incrementally over 12 years;
By 2052, all packaging — including plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, and metal — must meet a recycling rate of 75% (with incremental benchmarks until then);
Prohibit 17 of packaging’s worst toxic chemicals and materials, including all PFAS chemicals, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), lead, and mercury;
Prohibit the harmful process known as chemical recycling to be considered real recycling;
Establish a modest fee on packaging paid by product producers, with new revenue going to local taxpayers; and
Establish a new Office of Inspector General to ensure that companies fully comply with the new law.
A new report from Beyond Plastics "Projected Economic Benefits of the New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act" shows how New Yorkers would save $1.3 billion in just one decade after the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act becomes law. These savings would come from the avoided costs of waste management when there’s less waste to manage, and they don’t even include the funds that would be brought in after placing a fee on packaging paid by product producers.
Because the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would save tax dollars, over 30 localities across the state have passed resolutions urging Albany leaders to pass the bill. The New York City Council passed a resolution in support, and the Mayor’s Office released a memorandum of support in favor of the legislation. More than 300 organizations and businesses — including Beyond Plastics, Hip Hop Caucus, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, League of Women Voters, Environmental Advocates, NYPIRG, Earthjustice, Blueland, and DeliverZero — issued a memo of support stating, “This bill would save tax dollars and position New York as a global leader in reducing plastic pollution.”
Plastics and Climate
Plastic production is warming the planet four times faster than air travel, and it’s only going to get worse with plastic production expected to double in the next 20 years. Plastic is made from fossil fuels and contains 16,000 chemicals, many of them known to be harmful to humans and even more untested for their safety. Most plastics are made out of ethane, a byproduct of fracking. In 2020, plastic’s climate impacts amounted to the equivalent of nearly 49 million cars on the road, according to a conservative estimate by Material Research L3C. And that’s not including the carbon footprint associated with disposing of plastic.
Plastics and Health
Less than 6% of plastic in the United States actually gets recycled, and only 9% of all the plastic waste ever generated, globally, has been recycled. The rest ends up burned at incinerators, buried in landfills, or polluting rivers and the ocean — an estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the ocean every year.
Plastic is being measured everywhere, and microplastics are entering our soil, food, water, and air. Scientists estimate people consume, on average, hundreds of thousands of microplastics per year, and these particles have been found in human placenta, breast milk, stool, blood, lungs, and more.
Scientific research continues to find that the microplastics problem is worse than previously thought: New research in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that microplastics are linked to increased heart attacks, strokes and premature deaths. Another study from Columbia University found that bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of plastic fragments.
Why Chemical Recycling Isn’t a Solution
Because plastics recycling is a failure, the plastics and petrochemical industries are now pushing a pseudo-solution: chemical recycling, or “advanced recycling.” This is a polluting process that uses high heat or chemicals to turn plastic waste into fossil fuels or feedstocks to produce new plastic products. It’s a dangerous distraction that’s allowing companies to exponentially increase the amount of plastic — and greenhouse gases — they put into the world. Learn more from Beyond Plastics’s report, “Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception.” These New York bills do not ban chemical recycling but simply do not allow chemical recycling to count as real recycling.
About Beyond Plastics
Launched in 2019, Beyond Plastics pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates to build a vibrant and effective movement to end plastic pollution. Using deep policy and advocacy expertise, Beyond Plastics is building a well-informed, effective movement seeking to achieve the institutional, economic, and societal changes needed to save our planet and ourselves, from the negative health, climate, and environmental impacts for the production, usage, and disposal of plastics.
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