As Governor Hochul Guts Climate Law, 250+ Rally with State Lawmakers: End Plastic Pollution Now

ALBANY, NY (05/11/2026) (readMedia)-- More than 250 grassroots volunteers joined with state legislators and New Yorkers directly impacted by plastic pollution at a rally to urge the New York state legislature to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA - S1464A Harckham/A1749A Glick). As the legislature prepares to vote on the worst environmental budget in recent memory, advocates will urge lawmakers to act quickly on this legislation, which will reduce carbon emissions, protect the environment and New Yorkers' health, and save taxpayers millions.

Watch the news conference here.

"This is the year we advance the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA) to Governor Hochul's desk-thanks to the untiring efforts and uplifted voices of advocates statewide, from Judith Enck and Beyond Plastics to the many residents from around New York who have traveled here to Albany today. It's time our municipalities and taxpayers stopped footing the bill for the obscene amount of packaging and plastic waste generated each and every day; and it's time we removed toxic chemicals from packaging to protect our public health. Let's continue to make sure that PRRIA Advocacy Day is every day in New York!" said Senator Pete Harckham, chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee and lead sponsor of the legislation.

"New York's solid waste crisis demands urgent action. Excess packaging is overwhelming municipalities, driving up costs for taxpayers, and exposing New Yorkers to toxic chemicals that leach into our bodies and environment. That is why the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA) is needed now," said Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee and lead sponsor of the legislation, "Senator Harckham and I have worked extensively with industry, advocates, and leaders from states that have already implemented packaging EPR laws to develop amendments that balance environmental protections with business realities. What has become clear is that too many companies would rather preserve the status quo than phase toxic substances out of their packaging. New Yorkers should not have to wait for corporations to voluntarily prioritize public health. We need to pass PRRIA now."

"New Yorkers spend millions to collect, truck, bury, and burn harmful plastic. With New York poised to significantly weaken the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act can restore some of the damage to our health and environment that is about to unfold. Plastic and the 16,000 chemicals used to make plastic use fossil fuels. This pioneering bill will save tax dollars, reduce emissions, protect our health, and clean up our environment. It is imperative that this bill come up for a vote, allowing the state to restore some of the damage that is being considered in the state budget," said Judith Enck, former EPA regional administrator, president of Beyond Plastics, and co-author of the new book "The Problem with Plastic."

The New York state Senate passed this pioneering bill in 2024 and 2025, and the Senate's Environmental Conservation Committee passed it on May 5. It now heads to the Senate Finance Committee. After passing through Assembly committees in 2025, it is now on the Assembly floor, calendar No. 68, with a majority of assemblymembers signed on as co-sponsors.

Recently, lead bill sponsors Senator Harckham and Assemblywoman Glick introduced 38 amendments to the legislation, including major concessions to the plastic and petrochemical industries. Read more about the amendments here. Despite heavy lobbying and spending from those industries, the legislation is supported by dozens of municipalities across the state, including the New York State Association of Counties, Albany, Rochester, and Suffolk and Westchester County. The Buffalo Common Council also recently passed a resolution in support.

Localities support the legislation because it will save New Yorkers money, in addition to protecting their health. An 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 having less solid waste to pick up and manage, combined with the revenue local governments will receive when big businesses - rather than taxpayers - pay to deal with the ever-increasing amount of packaging sold in New York. 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, just from the money saved by reducing waste.

"We must take action to rein in plastic polluters and hold the companies accountable for the harm they cause to our constituents and our environment," said Senator Lea Webb. "Recycling costs for municipalities have skyrocketed, and the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act will save New Yorkers an estimated $1.3 billion. Passing this bill is common sense for both the economy and the environment. Our constituents should not be held responsible for the negligence of these companies."

"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. We must deal with 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 this year." said Chris Alexander, Executive Director of the NAACP New York State Conference.

"Seneca Meadows-New York's largest landfill in the heart of the Finger Lakes-is a dangerous example of how New York's broken waste system harms communities everywhere, from toxic air pollution locally to PFAS contamination in waterways across the state," said Yvonne Taylor, Co-Founder and Vice President of Seneca Lake Guardian. "For too long, we've treated places like the Finger Lakes as sacrifice zones for a throwaway economy. Passing the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is long overdue and essential to reducing waste so we can finally close landfills like Seneca Meadows for good and build a more circular economy."

"Counties across the state are united in our call to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which will reduce the financial burden on our communities of dealing with mountains of plastic waste and help protect us from the very real health and environmental impacts of plastics pollution. The only real opponents of this bill, unsurprisingly, are the corporations that generate this waste and bear none of the costs of disposing of it. We urge the State Legislature and Governor to stand with our communities and get this legislation over the finish line this session," said Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger, Chair of the Climate Action, Energy, and Environment Committee of the NYS Association of Counties.

"Plastics in our environments, communities, and our bodies are a growing health concern, with more and more research linking plastics, and the toxic chemicals they carry, to rising rates of chronic disease." said Charles Moon, MD FAAP, co-chair of the New York State Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "Healthcare professionals don't have any treatments to remove plastics from the body once they get there, meaning public policy is essential to reduce pollution and toxic chemicals in our lives before that can happen. That's why the NYS AAP supports the Packaging Reducting and Recycling Infrastructure Act - it is important public health legislation that will support healthier and more resilient communities around New York. In time, it will result in healthier New Yorkers and lower healthcare costs. It's time for the legislature to pass this policy on to the Governor to become law!"

"The incinerator in Peekskill is Westchester County's largest industrial air polluter spewing hundreds of thousands of tons of pollution into the air. I have toured the incinerator and seen first-hand the volume of plastic it burns. The health data and the science is clear- air pollution from the incinerator is having grave health consequences for Peekskill's predominantly Black and Brown community," said Courtney M. Williams, PhD, cancer researcher, Peekskill resident, and founder of Westchester Alliance for Sustainable Solutions (WASS). "The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act will protect the health of frontline communities like Peekskill, bearing the burden of plastic waste by removing health-harming toxins from plastics and reducing plastic waste in New York."

BACKGROUND

Adoption of the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464A Harckham/A1749A Glick) will transform the way our goods are packaged. It will dramatically reduce waste and ease the burden on taxpayers by making companies, not taxpayers, cover the cost of managing packaging. The bill will:

• Reduce single-use packaging by 30% incrementally over 12 years;
• Require most packaging - including plastic, cardboard, paper, and metal - to meet recycling rates;
• Prohibit the harmful process known as chemical recycling to count toward achieving these recycling rates;
• Prohibit the worst toxic chemicals to be used in packaging, including all PFAS chemicals, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), lead, mercury, and formaldehyde; and
• Establish a modest fee on packaging paid by big companies, with new revenue going to local taxpayers.

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. More than 300 organizations and businesses - including Beyond Plastics, Hip Hop Caucus, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, League of Women Voters, Environmental Advocates, NYPIRG, Earthjustice, and others - 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 organizations working in favor of the bill - mostly nonprofit groups like Beyond Plastics, NYPIRG, NRDC, and the League of Women Voters. 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: 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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