Bill Introduced In Albany To Reduce Packaging, Improve Recycling

PEEKSKILL, NY — In an effort to cut down on consumer packaging and improve recycling, a bill was introduced this week by state Sen. Pete Harckham, called the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act.

He said the legislation will revolutionize New York’s approach to solid waste and focus responsibility on corporations that put packaging into the stream of commerce and help relieve the burden placed on local governments, taxpayers and consumers for the management and disposal of most of the state’s solid waste.

Harckham said the tremendous amount of waste that is created each day needs to be immediately addressed, as well as the millions of dollars wasted in carting and recycling costs.

“The only way we can begin to mitigate the growing issue of waste pollution, which threatens our natural resources, is for the initial producers of this waste to be fully involved with the end-of-life solutions,” he said. “Right now, municipalities and taxpayers are footing practically all the enormous costs of product packaging pollution and recycling, and that’s neither fair nor viable in the long run.”

The bill — S.4246 — will require companies with a net annual income of more than $1 million to reduce consumer packaging, improve recycling efforts of their product packaging and help update recycling infrastructure. Additionally, companies will be expected to create and/or maintain reusable and refill infrastructure, support municipal recycling programs financially and reduce the toxins in their packaging.

Harckham said the average New Yorker creates nearly 5 pounds of trash every day, which means our state produces about 15 million tons of waste each year. The waste primarily goes to landfills and incinerators and often ends up in water, natural habitats and public spaces.

The bill, which is currently in committee, will require eligible producers of consumer packaging and recyclable waste to join a Producer’s Responsibility Organization within a year of the bill’s enactment and create a plan within 18 months for submission to an advisory council to gauge compliance with the new packaging and recycling rules. Once approved, producers have six months to put their plan into action.

The timeline of the bill calls for producers to cut their packaging by 10 percent of weight within three years, 20 percent by five years, 30 percent by eight years, 40 percent by 10 years and 50 percent by 12 years.

Additionally, there will be specific standards for post-consumer recycled material for packaging. Glass should be at least 35 percent post-consumer recycled content, paper carry out bags should be 40 percent and plastic bags should be 20 percent.

An office would be established to gauge compliance. Producers in violation will be fined $100,000 a day until requirements are implemented.