Letter from Marty Van Lenten Becker
A1749/S1464 Must Pass
No time to waste on waste—NY Legislature must pass the Packaging Reduction Act in 2025.
In the United States alone, 37 million tons of plastic were generated in 2021 and less than 9 percent of that plastic waste was recycled nationwide, according to Margaret Osborne of Smithsonian.com. That percentage is now 5-6 percent. In New York State, markets for all varieties of plastic are in the negative.
Clearly, New York faces a growing plastic pollution crisis. We produce 6.8 million tons of packaging waste each year, according to the Impact Environmental Group (https://www.waste360.com/waste-legislation/new-york-packaging-reduction-bill-faces-ticking-clock). Most of this packaging is sent to landfills, burned in incinerators, or littered in our streets, parks and beaches. Far too much finds its way into our rivers, lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
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