Join Climate Action Now, Beyond Plastics, Mothers Out Front, Only One, and The Surfrider Foundation to learn about this critical legislation and TAKE ACTION to pass strong packaging reduction. Register here for a hour-long action on Monday, June 3 at 12pm ET.

ATTENTION NEW YORKERS! URGENT!

ALL HANDS ON DECK TO PASS THE PACKAGING REDUCTION AND RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE ACT

• REQUIRE big plastic polluters to cut plastic packaging in New York by 50% in 12 years

• Reuse or recycle the remaining packaging

• Get toxic chemicals OUT of packaging - like PFOA, formaldehyde, bisphenols, phthalates, benzene, and heavy metals

• Prevent greenwashed, toxic processes like “chemical recycling” or incineration and count it toward recycling

• Make companies pay to clean up their packaging waste, by reimbursing municipalities for waste management and investing in recycling infrastructure

Some of New York’s biggest consumer brands are also the world’s largest plastic polluters. It's a familiar story: polluters keep the profits and leave the mess for taxpayers to clean up. We are on the cusp of passing this bill in New York State, but we need to make our voices loud and clear so that state lawmakers address the waste crisis NOW. We need YOUR help to seize the moment by helping us pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S.4246b/A.5322b)

THIS BILL MUST BE PASSED IN 2024:

• Plastic is warming the planet 4x faster than air travel

• An average of 6.8 million tons of packaging waste is produced each year in New York, constituting 40% of the total waste stream. Most of this packaging is sent to landfills, burned in incinerators, or ends up as litter on our streets and beaches, and particulates in our lungs.

• New York City taxpayers alone currently pay nearly half a billion dollars to export NYC waste to other communities to deal with, like the Seneca Meadows Landfill in the Finger Lakes, the Niagara Falls Covanta incinerator, and the Newark, NJ incinerator.

• 33 billion pounds of plastic pollution enters the ocean each year worldwide, the equivalent of 1-2 garbage trucks dumped into the ocean every minute.

• Plastic production is a major environmental justice, climate change, and human health problem. In 2020, 35.7 million tons of plastic was made in the United States, and plastic production is slated to double in the next 20 years, with most of it being manufactured in communities of color in Louisiana, Texas, and Appalachia. Microplastics have been found in the air we breathe and the water we drink. Plastic waste persists in the environment for centuries, harming wildlife and breaking down into microplastics that disrupt the food chain and enter human bodies.

• Only 5-6% of plastic is recycled and it is often downcycled rather than being turned back into products or materials of equal value. The cost of disposal, litter clean-up, and recycling is currently shouldered by taxpayers, not by the companies that make packaging decisions.

ENOUGH!

The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S.4246b/A.5322b) will put responsibility for this growing problem where it belongs -- with the producers – and finally address the root cause of plastic pollution!

We need all hands on deck to urge ou elected representatives to pass these bills before it’s too late.

Join us, the leaders of Beyond Plastics, our co-sponsors, concerned citizens plus special guests from across the state to learn about this critical legislation and TAKE ACTION to pass strong packaging reduction.

About Our Featured Guests

Judith Enck, President of Beyond Plastics. A dynamic community leader who has spent her expansive career working to protect public health and the environment, Judith began as an environmental advocate and has held top influential positions in state and federal government. Appointed by President Obama, Judith served as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overseeing environmental protection in NY, NJ, 8 Indian Nations, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Judith is a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution and was a Visiting Scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.

More guests TBD!

About Our Moderator

Alexis Goldsmith is the National Organizing Manager for Beyond Plastics. Her role is to empower the grassroots and support winning campaigns to end plastic pollution.

About Our Sponsors

Beyond Plastic's mission is to end plastic pollution everywhere.

Mothers Out Front is a dynamic group of dedicated moms and community members working toward climate justice for our children’s future.

Only One is a US-based nonprofit building a global, active supporter base to amplify and accelerate the work of partner organizations across the ocean sector.

The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves, and beaches, for all people, through a powerful activist network.

Climate Action Now is the creator and publisher of Climate Action Now, the leading app for citizen climate advocacy. App users take exponentially more action than users of conventional climate advocacy tools. The average app user takes 10 actions a day. CANdoers have sent over 1,200,000 messages to political and business leaders demanding climate action.

About Our Action Parties

An Action Party is an online event that packs valuable information and concrete action into a 60-minute venue.

Each Action Party has an environment-related topic and a featured guest who is an expert in that topic. We begin with a 20-minute presentation by the featured guest, followed by 20 minutes of Q&A, and then 20 minutes of optional action-taking with the Climate Action Now app. The actions have been prepared in advance to help participants take the most impactful action in the shortest period of time. During the action segment, the party's moderator sets a goal for the number of actions to be taken and shows participants their progress towards that goal in real-time with an online, automated goal tracker. Participants can socialize during the action segment.

Action parties are free and open to all who seek a more just and sustainable world, but we welcome donations to help us continue our mission of creating a just and liveable planet for all.

How to Get the Climate Action Now App

If you want to participate in the action-taking segment, you can get the FREE Climate Action Now app by scanning the QR code below with your phone's camera OR by searching for "Climate Action Now" in your app store and downloading it to your phone. The app is currently available to users in the United States only.