Award-Winning Environmental Justice Advocate Stands With Legislators Against Plastic Pollution

Written By Melissa Valliant

As Big Corporations Attempt to Use Communities of Color as Pawns to Protect Their Billion-Dollar Profits, a Leading Environmental Justice Advocate from Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ Traveled to Albany to Urge Assembly Members to Pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act

For Immediate Release: June 4, 2025

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ALBANY, N.Y. — Today, Sharon Lavigne (founder, CEO, and director of Rise St. James and one of TIME’s 2024 most influential people) joined state legislators at a news conference at the New York state Capitol. Lavigne visited from St. James Parish, Louisiana, where she lives among the nation’s highest concentrations of pollution from plastics production in “Cancer Alley.” Lavigne and allies urged the New York State Assembly to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (A1749 Glick) following the bill’s passage through the Senate on May 28.

Watch the news conference here.

“Since 1968 I’ve watched my home become Cancer Alley. Nearly every census tract in the 135-mile stretch of 200 petrochemical companies ranks in the top 5% nationally for cancer risk from toxic air pollution, and in the top 10% for respiratory hazards. Children can’t play outside without getting rashes. All this, just so the rest of the country can have more and more plastics. The New York State Assembly must stand up for environmental justice and pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder, CEO, and director Rise St. James.

“Personal testimony from environmental justice stalwart like Sharon Lavigne serves as a dire warning of our plastic packaging crisis and how it is impacting our environmental justice communities,” said Senator Harckham. “We cannot maintain this frightening status quo as our plastic waste crisis continues to worsen and our landfills run out of space for all this trash. Thank you to all the activists and supporters standing behind the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. This is the year we move forward and enact this crucial legislation and protect our planet.”

“New York is in a solid waste crisis, and the corporations responsible are spending millions on lobbying to avoid accountability. They refuse to remove toxic chemicals from their packaging, reject responsibility for packaging reductions, and continue to push their waste burden onto municipalities and taxpayers. Industry has promoted a false narrative about costs while advancing a bill that serves their bottom line—not the public. We’ve seen these empty promises before. Sharon Lavigne of RISE St. James in Louisiana knows firsthand the devastation caused by the plastic industry’s false claims of innovation and jobs. Her beautiful community is now known as Cancer Alley because of the devastating impacts of plastics production. We cannot allow that to continue anywhere. The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA, A1749) must pass both houses this session. New York needs it—and so does the world,” said Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee.

Chemicals found in plastic packaging are linked to health problems like cancer and developmental disorders, particularly in low-income communities of color. In New York, garbage incinerators in Peekskill, Poughkeepsie, Hempstead, and Niagara Falls — which disproportionately impact low-income and communities of color — burn plastic and release dangerous air pollutants that exacerbate respiratory diseases like asthma. In these areas, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and childhood leukemia are already more prevalent than in white neighborhoods. Sixty-four percent of people facing cancer risks from plastic factories are people of color.

The chemical industry has long profited from poisoning the land, air, and health of these communities, which is why the NAACP and 28 environmental justice organizations support the legislation. To protect these profits, the chemical and plastics industry is lobbying heavily against the legislation, spreading misleading information and targeting “nonwhite lawmakers in particular,” as reported by the Albany Times-Union.

Faith leaders representing diverse communities responded to this tactic in a letter to the Assembly last week, writing:

“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.”

Despite the chemical and plastic industries’ claims, there is no credible evidence that prices will go up under the legislation. 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.”

“Black, Indigenous, and Brown folks in communities like mine all across New York have to breathe and drink toxic pollution from incinerators and landfills, while the plastic and chemical industries fight to increase their profits at the expense of our lives. We need the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, an environmental justice bill that will reduce waste and ban toxic chemicals in plastic — the only way communities like mine will get relief,” said Monique Fitzgerald, co-founder, Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group and climate justice organizer, Long Island Progressive Coalition.

“The climate crisis is spiraling out of control. Our environment is suffering, and every one of us is impacted by the toxic pollutants in our air and water. And so many of us are experiencing growing health risks in our communities. Today, I stand with my colleagues to call for urgent change in the way we produce and package goods. This is not just an environmental issue—it’s a matter of justice. Low-income communities and Black and Brown neighborhoods are disproportionately affected, as plastic production facilities are too often placed in their backyards. Everyone has a role to play, but the greatest responsibility lies with the corporations profiting from this harm. The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act demands that these companies be held accountable and adopt sustainable practices. We cannot continue to trade the health and well-being of New Yorkers for the convenience of industry. The time for bold action is now,” said Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas.

“We all know the growing evidence around the health risks associated with plastic exposure and plastic pollution. The ocean is full of it, we’re finding microplastics in our brain and in our blood, and it’s a major driver of climate change. Enough is enough. The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is popular for good reason: New Yorkers want to reduce plastic waste and the harmful chemicals it contains—for the sake of our health, our communities, and the planet. They also believe plastic polluters should be held accountable for the crisis they’ve created. This legislation does both,” said Assembly Member Claire Valdez.

More about Sharon Lavigne:

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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Melissa Valliant
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