Put People Over Plastic Albany Lobby Day!
January 28 @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
I’m sending all the New York organizations in our network a reminder about the January 28 advocacy day in Albany to pass two critical waste reduction bills. All the details about the advocacy day are at this link: bit.ly/1-28-25
The bills we are fighting for are:
- The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act – Reduces plastic packaging, bans more than a dozen of the most toxic chemicals used in packaging, ensures recycling is effective, and makes corporations, rather than us taxpayers, foot the bill for managing all the waste they create. Note: We succeeded in passing this bill through the State Senate last spring but ran out of time to get it passed in the Assembly. We’re hitting the ground running to get it passed in both houses this spring!
- The Bigger Better Bottle Bill – Expands New York’s existing container deposit program, increases redemption rates, and supports marginalized workers and small businesses. It also requires beverage companies to begin phasing out single-use plastic bottles with refill requirements! It’s been more than 40 years since the Bottle Bill was signed into law and it’s done a ton of good since then, but could do so much more to reduce waste and incentivize reuse with these important updates to modernize it.
The petrochemical industry wants you to think that we can’t live without plastics, and they often point to products like medical devices to justify plastic production. But the reality is that more than 40% of new plastic becomes single-use packaging, and the industries that profit immensely by producing plastics from fossil fuels are fighting tooth and nail to prevent any kinds of restrictions on plastic. Meanwhile, plastics are warming the planet 4x more than the global aviation industry, and the communities where plastic is produced and disposed of are burdened with pollution. New York has 10 municipal waste incinerators and a new one proposed – more than any other state except Florida! We also have towering landfills, like Seneca Meadows, that burden communities with heavy truck traffic, odors, and PFAS-contaminated leachate.
New York needs to start addressing waste at the source – and that’s what these two bills are designed to do. Can you help strengthen the grassroots movement to put people over plastic in New York by sharing the January 28 advocacy day? Here’s a sharing toolkit to make it easy.
See all the details for the event and RSVP here: bit.ly/1-28-25
Thank you for your advocacy. Onward!
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Alexis Goldsmith (she/her)
Organizing Director, Beyond Plastics
c: 260-444-1341
Google voice: 260-338-9566