Reduce Waste and Increase Recycling in New York

Hold manufacturers—not taxpayers—responsible for their waste!

With only a couple weeks left in the New York State legislative session, it is critical that the Senate and Assembly come together and pass strong, unified legislation to tackle the state’s solid waste and recycling crisis before time runs out!

New York State is indeed suffering from a solid waste and recycling crisis—recycling costs for municipalities and taxpayers have skyrocketed, recycling rates have declined, and our environment and health are suffering from pollution caused by excessive plastic packaging. Currently, corporate brand owners bear no responsibility in managing the product packaging waste they have created.

Bills have been introduced in both the NYS Senate and Assembly to help fix our solid waste crisis. The policy, known as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), would require product manufacturers—not taxpayers—to be responsible for the cost of collecting and recycling the packaging and paper they create.

A strong EPR policy will help:

Reduce waste: EPR incentivizes producers to produce less plastic waste and packaging in the first place!
Increase recycling: New York’s recycling rate is approximately 18%, while countries that have adopted an EPR policy have rates over 70%.
Eliminate toxic chemicals: Prohibit the harmful “forever chemical” PFAS and other toxic chemicals often used in packaging.
Reduce plastic pollution in our waterways: Lake Erie is polluted with 381 metric tons of plastic while Long Island Sound has an estimated 165 million plastic particles floating in the water at any given time.
Save taxpayers money: Local governments (outside of NYC) pay $80 million annually to keep recycling programs going.
Fight climate change: EPR can lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by over 2.3 million metric tons — the equivalent of taking half a million cars off the road or reducing the state’s GHG emissions from waste by 18%