Questions Over Plastics Policy In Budget Remain Given Plastic Connections By Lobbyists
By Joshua Solomon | April 4, 2022 | Times Union
ALBANY — A nonprofit with ties to Exxon Mobile and the American Chemistry Council is lobbying state officials on a policy that could alter the way New York handles recycling, alarming certain environmental groups.
The Recycling Partnership, through the lobbying firm Malkin & Ross, has pushed lawmakers to support policy in Gov. Kathy Hochul's budget that would enact what's known as "extended producer responsibility." The idea behind "EPR" is to cover the costs of a product, like plastic, through its lifetime.
The partnership hired Malkin & Ross through a $100,000 contract, according to records submitted with the state's ethics agency. It has lobbied Hochul's administration as well state lawmakers who have pushed for EPR programs, including state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, D-Long Island, who has proposed similar legislation to Hochul's plan.
"The most successful EPR programs around the world are those that empower industry to develop a program to meet a goal, and then be held accountable to that goal by the state," the partnership's senior policy advisor, Michael P. Washburn, testified at the state's joint legislative budget hearing.
Washburn and the partnership have pushed to have the state's program led by the industry and enforced by the state.
While environmental groups generally are OK with an EPR program, the concern centers on who is making the decisions on what types of materials are to be reduced or recycled and at what rate.
The state could be more in charge of the decisions instead of the proposed situation where the "fox would be running the hen house," said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator under President Barack Obama.
Enck is pushing for the policy proposal to be taken up during the legislative session and not thrown into the slew of policy decisions being negotiated through the state's $216 draft budget. The budget is expected to be passed this week.
"And yet it could have profound impacts on the packaging industry," Enck said. "Companies with their lobbyists are having an outsized influence on something the public has an interest in and cares about."