3M, Green Groups Push Back on Hochul’s NY Waste Reduction Bill
New York business groups and environmental advocates are pushing back on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to require businesses like Amazon.com Inc., 3M Co., and Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. to reduce and pay for the disposal of paper and packaging products. Environmentalists say the plan doesn’t go far enough, and the complex issue should be handled outside of the state budget process.
Questions Over Plastics Policy In Budget Remain Given Plastic Connections By Lobbyists
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.
Hochul, Plastics Industry and Green Groups Battle Over Recycling Proposal
Rather than try to improve Hochul’s proposal, some environmentalists want to scrap it and instead concentrate on a forthcoming bill from Assemblymember Steve Englebright.
Commentary: Fix Flaws In New York’s Plastic Packaging Waste Proposals
EPR is not a state spending issue and should be put aside until after the budget passes on April 1. Then the governor and Senate can work with the Assembly to create an EPR program for New York that actually fixes our packaging crisis and reduces plastic pollution. This is too important not to get right.
The Wrong Way To Clean Up Plastic Waste: New York Needs A Better Answer
Enacting an effective EPR for packaging law and updating New York’s Bottle Bill are once-in-a-decade opportunities and should be a vehicle for significantly reducing packaging, especially plastic. Jamming an ineffective EPR program through the budget process is no way to make the sausage. EPR and Bottle Bill expansion deserve the full attention of the Legislature after the budget is passed, because we have to get it right.
Bail Reform Looms Large As Budget Deadline Nears
Kaminsky chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee in the Senate. His counterpart in the Assembly, Steve Englebright (D-Suffolk), told advocates Tuesday night that he’d rather see extended producer responsibility dealt with outside the budget. Judith Enck, a former EPA Region 2 Administrator and current head of Beyond Plastics, is a strong backer of that position. She’s skeptical of both Hochul’s and Kaminsky’s version of EPR. “I do know that if it’s even close to the Hochul bill or the Kaminsky bill, it would be a very bad precedent that other states would follow,” Enck said.
Will New York Get New Plastic Packaging Requirements Right Or Wrong?
To get a handle on plastic packaging, there is a movement to get companies to take responsibility for all the waste they produce. It’s called Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR. According to the group Beyond Plastics, strong and transparent EPR can be used to solve the growing problem of packaging waste and plastic pollution, but only if states get the details right and hold companies accountable.
Plastic Burning ‘Has No Place In Climate-Forward NY’
State Sen. John Mannion (D-Syracuse) has introduced Senate Bill 7891, which would promote plastic burning in our state. At least 15 states have so far passed similar legislation, including Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, none of which are environmental leaders. But this destructive approach, which the plastic industry calls “advanced recycling” or “chemical recycling,” has no place in climate-forward New York.
Another Voice: Plastics Recycling Bill Needs To Include Specific Targets
Gov. Kathy Hochul included a proposal for “extended producer responsibility for packaging and paper” in her state budget proposal, but unfortunately there are serious flaws that must be cured by the Legislature.