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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.

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Scientists Uncover The Secrets Of A Plastic Destroying Enzyme

What’s next — Enck has criticized the U.S. Department of Energy for promoting research into chemical recycling, which she says could give companies license to continue business as usual, including fossil fuel companies, which are pivoting to petrochemicals. The BOTTLE Consortium receives some funding from companies like Heinz, which is a heavy user of single-use plastics. “The only thing that’s going to solve this problem is making less plastic,” she says.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Toxics Tour -  A Trip Through the Ohio River Valley
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The Toxics Tour - A Trip Through the Ohio River Valley

Beyond Plastics’ Organizing Director, Alexis Goldsmith took a toxic tour through the Ohio River Valley where the fracking boom has led to a buildout of petrochemical infrastructure. Follow along with her meetings with the dedicated individuals and organizations working to hold this industry accountable and stop the petrochemical build-out.

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Smarter: ♻️Which Plastics Are Actually Recyclable?

In a perfect world, all the plastics we put in our recycling bins would get recycled, but (spoiler alert!) we don’t live in a perfect world. This week, I’m examining an uncomfortable truth about plastics, namely, how only certain plastics really get recycled, and the do’s and don’ts of recycling.

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Walmart Tests Ways To Ditch Single-Use Plastics, As Climate Advocates Urge The Retailer To Go Faster

Walmart is testing reusable tote bags as part of its direct-to-fridge delivery service, InHome, which is expanding across the country. The pilot project is part of a broader effort by the retail giant to deliver on a pledge to move toward reusable, recyclable or industrially compostable packaging and reach zero waste in its own operations in the U.S. and Canada by 2025.

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Plastic Bags Still Ubiquitous In NYC Shops, Months After Enforcement Of Ban Began.

The effectiveness of New York’s plastic bag ban could serve as a portend for other, similar bans on single-use plastics either already approved or under discussion at both the city and state legislative levels. To get a better sense of how its implementation is going, City Limits’ CLARIFY interns spoke to more than 50 bodega owners and store workers in the outer boroughs to see if they’re still using plastic, and if so, to tell us why.

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Plastics Group Recommends Phaseout Of Some Materials

C&EN by Alexander Tullo | January 28, 2022 | The US Plastics Pact—a collaboration between plastic-industry participants, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies—has released a list of 11 items its members aim to eliminate from packaging by 2025. Reviews from industry and environmental groups were mixed.

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