300+ Rally With State Lawmakers and Environmental Justice Advocates: End Plastic Pollution Now

ALBANY, NY (02/09/2026) (readMedia)-- February is Black History Month, and today, more than 250 grassroots advocates joined state legislators in calling out the environmental injustices posed by landfills and incinerators in communities of color. They gathered at a news conference at the state Capitol and urged the New York state Assembly to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA - S1464 Harckham/A1749 Glick).

The New York state Senate passed PRRIA in 2024 and 2025; and after passing through Assembly committees in 2025, it is now on the Assembly floor, with 74 co-sponsors.

Watch the news conference here.

At the news conference, the groups debuted a new map (attached) that shows how widespread toxic plastic pollution is across New York state, particularly for communities of color. The map pinpoints New York's 28 landfills and 11 trash incinerators. All but one of New York's trash incinerators are located in environmental justice communities. New York state used to have hundreds of landfills, but most have been closed down due to major pollution problems, including contamination of groundwater. But more than half (53.9%) of all solid waste tonnage in New York State is handled by facilities located in disadvantaged communities.

Garbage incinerators burn plastic and release dangerous air pollutants that exacerbate respiratory diseases like asthma. Cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and childhood leukemia are already more prevalent in communities of color than in other neighborhoods. Sixty-four percent of people facing cancer risks from plastic factories are people of color.

"Black, Indigenous, and Brown folks in communities like mine all across New York have to breathe and drink toxic pollution from incinerators and landfills. We are fighting for our lives. The only way to help communities like mine is to reduce waste and ban toxic chemicals in plastic, so that we can stop exporting and burning our waste. We cannot afford to delay. The Assembly MUST pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act this year," said Monique Fitzgerald, co-founder, Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group and climate justice organizer, Long Island Progressive Coalition.

"The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is a necessary piece of legislation that will result in less waste generated in New York and less waste landfilled or burned in communities of color, where it pollutes air, water, and soil and negatively impacts the health of residents and their children. It is beyond time to address the production and use of products that cause lasting harm on our health and to our environment. New Yorkers are depending on legislators to pass this bill." said Chris Alexander, Executive Director of the NAACP New York State Conference.

PRRIA will provide relief for the communities being poisoned by landfills and incinerators by reducing plastic packaging in New York by 30% and phasing out some of the most toxic chemicals used in packaging, including PFAS and mercury. It will improve recyclability of packaging and slash greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic (which are currently on track to outpace the emissions from coal by 2030). It will also make polluters pay by establishing a modest fee on packaging paid by packaging producers, generating new revenue for local taxpayers.

The chemical industry has long profited from poisoning the land, air, and health of communities of color, which is why the NAACP and 28 environmental justice organizations support the legislation. To protect these profits, the chemical and plastics industries continue to lobby heavily against the legislation, spreading misleading information and targeting "nonwhite lawmakers in particular," as reported by the Albany Times-Union.

PRRIA isn't just important for New Yorkers' health - it will save New Yorkers money, too. A new analysis from Beyond Plastics finds that just nine selected communities across New York state (including New York City) could benefit by more than $400 million each year after adopting PRRIA. Those savings come from annual waste reduction, combined with an estimate of the revenue local governments will make when plastic polluters pay. And a previous report from Beyond Plastics, "Projected Economic Benefits of the New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act," shows how New Yorkers would save $1.3 billion in just one decade after PRRIA becomes law, only from the money saved by reducing waste.

Judith Enck - former EPA regional administrator, president of Beyond Plastics, and author of the new book "The Problem with Plastic" - said, "New Yorkers are stuck paying hundreds of millions of tax dollars every year to bury and burn waste at polluting landfills and incinerators, often located in communities of color such as in Peekskill and Hempstead. We can't keep letting taxpayers foot the bill for plastic pollution, especially with the negative climate and health impacts that come with it. The state Senate has passed this bill two years in a row. Today, we call on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to allow this bill to come to the floor for a vote."

"Plastic waste disposal and incineration pose tremendous health risks to communities statewide-and the cost of dealing with plastic packaging to New Yorkers is nearly $1 billion annually. Meanwhile, the producers of this environmental menace pay nothing to deal with the problem. Enough! We need substantial plastic reduction in packaging now, and I am grateful to Beyond Plastics for its partnership in passing the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act in the State Senate two years in a row. This bill will both protect public health and save taxpayers billions of dollars," said Senator Pete Harckham, Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.

"We must pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act this session to address the solid waste crisis, provide relief to municipalities and New Yorkers, and protect the environment. There is a climate emergency, and it is essential to limit the unnecessary and sometimes toxic packaging that is filling our landfills, harming New Yorkers and our environment. Globally, the same producers that are pushing back on PRRIA in New York are already responding to similar legislation and finding the solutions needed for sustainable and reusable packaging. PRRIA is needed now to bring those same innovations and relief to New York, our climate and New Yorkers can't wait any more," said Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee.

"Plastic packaging is killing our environment and costing New Yorkers $1 billion every year. At the same time, the multi-million dollar companies that produce all this plastic waste face no consequences and become more profitable every year. It's time to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, a common sense bill that will reduce plastic, save New Yorkers money, and finally hold corporations accountable." said State Senator Juia Salazar.

"It's been more than two years since the DEC issued its comprehensive plan to attack New York's worsening trash disposal crisis. In their report, they stated that landfills are filling to capacity and disposal permits are expiring. The DEC specifically called for producer responsibility legislation to curb NY's growing mountain of trash. This legislation is an important component of that plan. The Assembly must act now, or this crisis will continue to get worse," said Blair Horner, NYPIRG senior policy advisor.

"New Yorkers are paying with their health because of the toxic chemical additives in plastics, which increase our risk of cancer and other health harms both when we use plastic and when we dispose of it -- especially when the plastic is burned (including at facilities that refer to themselves as "chemical recyclers")," said Eve Gartner, Director of Crosscutting Toxics Strategies at Earthjustice. "Parents shouldn't have to worry about toxic additives leaching from plastic into their children's food and directly into their bodies through their skin. The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act will ban the use of many of the most dangerous toxic chemicals used in plastic packaging, a major advance for the health of children and families in New York."

BACKGROUND

The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464 Harckham/A1749 Glick) will transform 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 30% incrementally over 12 years;
• Require all packaging - including plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, and metal - to meet a recycling rate of 75% by 2052 (with incremental benchmarks until then);
• Prohibit the harmful process known as chemical recycling to count toward achieving these recycling rates;
• Prohibit 17 of packaging's worst toxic chemicals and materials, including all PFAS chemicals, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), lead, and mercury;
• 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 that companies fully comply with the new law.

A report from Beyond Plastics, "Projected Economic Benefits of the New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act," shows how New Yorkers would save $1.3 billion in just one decade after the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act becomes law. These savings would come from the avoided costs of waste management when there's less waste to manage, and they don't even include the funds that would be brought in after placing a fee on packaging paid by product producers. A new analysis from Beyond Plastics builds on this report, and finds that nine selected communities across New York state could benefit by more than $411 million each year after adopting the legislation from annual waste reduction savings, as well as an estimate of the revenue local governments will make when plastic polluters pay.

See the fact sheets breaking down cost savings in each of these communities:

• New York City
• Hempstead
• Islip
• Yonkers
• Oyster Bay
• North Hempstead
• Syracuse
• Smithtown
• Buffalo

Because this bill will save New Yorkers money and protect their health, a bipartisan 73% of New York voters are in favor of the bill. Because the legislation would save tax dollars and protect our health, over 30 localities across the state have passed resolutions urging Albany leaders to pass it. More than 300 organizations and businesses - including Beyond Plastics, Hip Hop Caucus, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, League of Women Voters, 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."

Despite so much support, this fight is David versus Goliath. Last year, there were a whopping 106 registered businesses and organizations working against the bill - megacorporations like ExxonMobil, Shell, McDonald's, Amazon, and Coca-Cola. Compare that to the 23 lobbyists working in favor of the bill - mostly nonprofit groups like NYPIRG, NRDC and Food & Water Watch. Read more about the lobbying around PRRIA here.

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 gases - they put into the world. Learn more from Beyond Plastics's report, "Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception." These New York bills do not ban chemical recycling but simply do not allow chemical recycling to count as real recycling.

Plastics and Climate

Plastic production is warming the planet four times faster than air travel, and it's only going to get worse with plastic production expected to double in the next 20 years. Plastic products are made from fossil fuels and may contain as many as 16,000 chemicals, many of them known to be harmful to humans and even more untested for their safety. 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

Less than 6% of plastic in the United States actually gets 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 contains as many as 16,000 chemicals - many of them toxic. Over the past two decades, many retailers and manufacturers have already begun to voluntarily phase out some of these toxic chemicals like BPA (demonstrating that removing chemicals can be done!), but PFAS, PVC, mercury, and more are still in plastic, making their way into our bodies.

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 microplastic particles per year, and these particles have been found in human placenta, breast milk, stool, blood, lungs, and more.

Scientific 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 study from Columbia University found that bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of plastic fragments.

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