The New York Senate has again passed legislation to reduce plastic packaging waste by establishing a program that requires manufacturers to pay for recycling and disposal.
The bill, known as an extended producer responsibility measure, was passed 33-25 Wednesday on a mostly party-line vote. It now goes to the Assembly, where the effort died last year. There is also an Assembly version of the bill.
New York Sen. Pete Harckham (D) and Assemblymember Deborah Glick (D) sponsored the legislation. During the Senate debate, Harckham said it would save localities $1 billion in solid waste disposal costs over 10 years and would help staunch the surge of microplastics that have been found in the organs of humans and animals.
“These are real health impacts that are costing our society money,” Harckham said during the debate. “This is the new environmental scourge of our time.”
According to a recent study, there were 10 times more microplastics found in the brain than in other organs, about 4,800 micrograms, roughly equivalent to the amount found in a plastic spoon. The health effects of microplastics are still being determined, but the study showed that brains with dementia had higher concentrations of microplastics.
Republican opponents said the bill would make food more expensive, hurt businesses, cost jobs, and result in fewer choices on shelves in New York stores.
“This bill … will result in producers of products leaving New York State taking jobs with them,” Sen. Mark Walczyk (R) said. “It will result in fewer products online and New York consumers can look forward to the not for sale in New York when they shop online for many products, it will result in fewer options on shelves, which means that the products that are on the shelves will increase in cost.”
The legislation would require manufacturers that sell products in the state to create and fund a program to collect and recycle the packaging used for their products. The producers would have to establish a so-called producer responsibility organization to develop a collection and recycling program and pay fees to fund the program.
It also would: require producers to reduce single-use plastic packaging by 30% incrementally over 12 years; after the 12-year period, 75% of all packaging used by producers doing business in the state would have to be recyclable; prohibit the use of 17 chemicals associated with packaging, including all PFAS chemicals, vinyl chloride, lead and mercury, which pose possible health risks; and prohibit “chemical recycling,” a process manufacturers contend allows for the plastics to be reused but environmental groups say generates significant pollution and does not recycle much plastic.
A new Office of Inspector General would also be created under the measure to ensure that companies comply.
Opponents of the bill include the American Beverage Association, the American Chemistry Council, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, the Farm Bureau of New York and Kraft Heinz.
Opposition stems from the bill going beyond typical extended producer responsibility measures, which producers tend to support. In a February letter signed by nearly 100 businesses opposing the measure, opponents highlighted the 30% mandatory reduction in plastic packaging and the ban on certain chemicals in packaging, among other concerns.
The 30% mandatory plastic packaging cut would be the strictest in the country if enacted. California’s 2022 law requires a 25% cut by 2032.
Harckham lamented the lobbying effort against his bill, which included ads in Democratic swing districts.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Harckham said. “Over $2 million spent to oppose this bill. This is Washington style. This is our public health. … We should be appalled.”
Packaging bills were recently signed into law in Maryland and Washington. Those states joined Maine, Oregon, Colorado, California and Minnesota, which all enacted similar measures between 2021 and 2024.
Other states are also considering legislation, with bills pending in New Jersey, Illinois and Massachusetts.