Opinion: Recycling Bill Will Address New York's Plastics Pollution Problem
Judith Enck | November 3, 2023 | Times Union
Plastic pollution has become one of the planet’s great threats, and it’s only getting worse. But in New York state, there’s hope: Legislators have an opportunity to reduce this danger to human and environmental health.
The Environmental Conservation Committee chairs, Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Sen. Peter Harckham, recently held a hearing on the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. This bill would revitalize our state’s recycling system by transforming the way goods are packaged, dramatically reducing waste, and easing the burden on taxpayers by making companies cover the cost of managing excess packaging since they sent it to market in the first place.
The legislation also contains a critical safeguard that will protect public health: It prohibits so-called chemical recycling from counting as real recycling.
Chemical recycling, or what the plastics industry often calls "advanced recycling," refers to a set of technologies and processes that attempt to melt and boil waste plastics down to gasses, chemicals, oils, tars and waxes. It is rarely successful in turning old plastic into new plastic, and it inevitably creates toxic substances.
The plastics, chemical, and fossil fuel industry lobbyists are already working hard to allow this risky technology to be included in this policy. The American Chemistry Council has also lobbied the Legislature to exempt plastic waste and “chemical recycling” facilities from state laws that oversee solid waste and incinerators.
We can’t let them prevail. “Chemical recycling” is not real recycling. Recycling plastic is inherently risky because thousands of toxic chemicals — phthalates, toluene and PFAS, just to name a few — are added to plastic polymers, including food packaging. These chemicals are largely untested for safety, even though they are in contact with what we eat and drink.
Chemical recycling is a marketing ploy to convince lawmakers not to adopt strong laws that meaningfully reduce the production, use, and disposal of plastics. These reduction policies are the only way we’ll put a dent in the plastic pollution problem.
That is why Harckham and Glick’s bill focuses on reduction as well as improving the recyclability of materials. It requires most companies that sell products in New York to reduce their plastic packaging by 50% in 12 years. Companies are provided time to adjust and can comply by switching to reusable packaging within a refill system — the gold standard when it comes to sustainable packaging.
Plastic, which is made from petrochemicals, emits nearly twice as many greenhouse gases as the global aviation industry. The bill protects consumers by prohibiting 15 of the worst toxic chemicals from packaging. It would revitalize our recycling system by requiring companies to pay their fair share for managing their packaging waste. Recyclers will no longer drown in worthless packaging waste, because any packaging that remains on the market must reach a real recycling rate of 70%, also within 12 years.
Our state is home to 10 aging solid waste incinerators, and several landfills are due to close this decade. We need a new way of doing things. Replacing single-use with reuse is endorsed in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and the state’s Solid Waste Management Plan. That is why the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is one of the most significant environmental bills the Legislature will consider next year. We must not let this bill be gutted due to industry pressure.
Judith Enck of Poestenkill is a former regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency and president of Beyond Plastics.
