New Poll: 82% of NY Voters Say Single-Use Plastic Packaging Is a Problem

For Immediate Release: May 22, 2024

 Contact: Marissa Solomon, marissa@pythiapublic.com, 734-330-0807

ALBANY, NY — A new Siena Poll released today shows that voters overwhelmingly support policies to reduce single-use plastic packaging in New York. 82% say that single-use plastic packaging is a problem, and a bipartisan 67% of voters support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (A5322B Glick / S4246B Harckham). More highlights from the poll:

 City and suburban voters in nearly equal measure say single-use plastic is a problem, with 83% of NYC voters and 85% of suburban voters More than any other ethnicity, Latino voters see single-use plastic as a major problem83% of women voters see single-use plastic packaging as a problem69% of Republican voters say single-use plastic packaging is a problem72% of voters in union households support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure ActVoters across income levels in equal measure support the legislation

 View the crosstabs attached here.

 “Reducing single-use plastic has massive public support across New York, but the legislature still hasn’t voted on the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. As long as the legislature fails to act, plastic polluters will continue harming our health, climate, and environment on the backs of the everyday taxpayers demanding progress,” said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator.

 BACKGROUND

The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act has gained serious momentum, with 79 cosponsors in the assembly and 35 in the senate — a majority in both houses. Last week, the Assembly Codes and Ways and Means Committees passed the bill and the bill is now in the Assembly Rules Committee. In the senate, the legislation sits in the Finance Committee. 

 The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S4246B Harckham/A5322AB Glick) will do just that by transforming the way our goods are packaged. It will dramatically reduce waste and ease the burden on taxpayers by making companies, not consumers, cover the cost of managing packaging. The bill will:

Reduce plastic packaging by 50% incrementally over 12 years;After 12 years, all packaging — including plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, and metal — must meet a recycling rate of 70%;Prohibit packaging’s worst toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, PFAS, and heavy metals;Not allow the harmful process known as chemical recycling to be considered real recycling;Establish a modest fee on packaging paid by product producers, with new revenue going to local taxpayers; and Establish a new Office of Inspector General to ensure proper compliance.

 Because the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would provide meaningful support to communities, over 30 localities across the state have passed resolutions urging Albany leaders to pass the bill. The New York City Council recently passed a resolution in support, and the Adams administration released a memorandum of support in favor of the legislation. 

 Recently, 285 organizations and businesses — including Beyond Plastics, Environmental Advocates, NYPIRG, Earthjustice, Blueland, and DeliverZero — issued a memo of support stating “This bill would save tax dollars and position New York as a global leader in reducing plastic pollution.” 

 Plastics and Climate 

Plastic production is already out of control and is expected to double in the next 20 years. As more of our energy comes from renewable sources, fossil fuel companies like Shell and Exxon are seeking to recoup falling profits by increasing plastics production and canceling out greenhouse gas reductions. In fact, half of all plastic in Earth’s history was produced in the last 20 years — the plastic we’re seeing now in our air, water, food, and bodies didn’t even exist before 2000. 

 Plastic is made from fossil fuels and toxic chemicals. Most plastics are made out of ethane, a byproduct of fracking. In 2020, plastic’s climate impacts amounted to the equivalent of nearly 49 million cars on the road, according to a conservative estimate by Material Research L3C. And that’s not including the carbon footprint associated with disposing of plastic.

 Plastics and Health

Only about 6% of plastic in the United States actually gets recycled, and only 9% of all the plastic waste ever generated, globally, has been recycled! The rest ends up burned at incinerators, buried in landfills, or polluting rivers and the ocean — an estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the ocean every year. 

 Plastic is being measured everywhere, and microplastics are entering our soil, food, water, and air. Scientists estimate people consume, on average, hundreds of thousands of microplastics per year, and these particles have been found in human placenta, breast milk, stool, blood, and lungs.   

 In fact, new research continues to find that the microplastics problem is worse than previously thought: New research in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that microplastics are linked to increased heart attacks, strokes and premature deaths. Another new study from Columbia University found that bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of plastic fragments. 

 Why Chemical Recycling Isn’t a Solution

Because plastics recycling is a failure, the plastics and petrochemical industries are now pushing a pseudo solution: chemical recycling, or “advanced recycling.” This is a polluting process that uses high heat or chemicals to turn plastic waste into fossil fuels or feedstocks to produce new plastic products. It’s a dangerous distraction that’s allowing companies to exponentially increase the amount of plastic — and greenhouse gasses — they put into the world. Learn more from Beyond Plastics’s recent report, “Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception.” These bills do not ban chemical recycling, but simply do not allow chemical recycling to count as real recycling.