PRESS RELEASE

Beyond plastics - New Poll: Majority of New Yorkers Want Less Plastic Packaging

- 73% of NY Residents Think Big companies Should Be Required to Reduce Packaging on Their Products; 61% Want the Soda, Beer, and Water Container Deposit Increased From 5 to 10 Cents



A new Siena Poll released shows that New York residents overwhelmingly support state policies to reduce single-use plastic packaging in New York. Seventy-three percent think big companies should be required to reduce packaging on their products, as proposed in the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464 Harckham/A1749 Glick). And 61% want the beverage container deposit increased from 5 to 10 cents, as proposed in the Bigger Better Bottle Bill (S5684 May/A6543 Glick). More highlights from the poll:

Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act:

Bipartisan support for the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Act: 80% of Democrats think companies should be required to reduce packaging on their products, in addition to 62% of Independents and 60% of Republicans.73% of suburban and upstate residents support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. 72% support in NYC.68% of Black New York residents and 67% of Latino residents support the legislation.

Bigger Better Bottle Bill:

Bipartisan support for doubling the beverage container deposit from 5 to 10 cents: 63% of Democrats support the measure, in addition to 56% of Independents and 53% of Republicans.66% of upstate residents support the measure, and 52% of suburban residents support it.58% of Latino New Yorkers support doubling the bottle deposit.

View the crosstabs here.

“We knew that a majority of New Yorkers support legislation to fight our packaging waste crisis, but this new poll confirms and quantifies just how broad and sizable that support is,” said Senator Pete Harckham, Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. “Residents are deeply troubled by the growing amount of waste that is created daily, the gargantuan costs related to the removal of this waste, and the many toxins and carcinogens that are both present and prevalent in plastic waste. It’s time for us to leverage this overarching concern into real action.”

“The overwhelming support for packaging reduction shown in the latest Siena poll demonstrates that New Yorkers know how important it is to move the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act this year. While new startups are responding to the public demand for less plastic packaging, most producers have not made essential changes voluntarily. The packaging reduction mandates, toxic material bans, and shift to sustainable packaging are necessary to address New York’s solid waste crisis and are also important for our environment and our health,” said Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee.

“New Yorkers of all stripes support common sense expansions to the bottle bill. The new Siena poll shows once again that support extends to increasing the refundable deposit on returnable bottles to 10 cents. New Yorkers understand the benefits of my Bigger Better Bottle Bill to both the environment and the economy. The current 5-cent deposit was established more than 40 years ago. And we know the modest increase will work to get more people to return more bottles: Connecticut increased its deposit in 2022, leading to boosted return rates. It’s high time New York did the same,” said Senator Rachel May (D-48th District).

“None of us voted for more plastic, and New Yorkers across the political spectrum have made it resoundingly clear that we don’t want it. No wonder — taxpayers are forced to spend hundreds of millions every year just to bury and burn waste at polluting landfills and incinerators, but could save a whopping $1.3 billion in just one decade by reducing waste with this legislation! We are calling on lawmakers to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act this year, and put plastic polluters — not New Yorkers — on the hook for their own mess,” said Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics president and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator.

Blair Horner, senior policy advisor at NYPIRG, said, “New York’s original bottle bill was a tremendous success 40 years ago, but it’s 2025 and time for an update. The DEC knows it, the redemption centers that deal with returning the containers know it, the canners who rely on returning containers for income know it, over 200 civic, environmental, religious, and labor organizations know it, and now we know that New Yorkers on both sides of the aisle know it. The legislature must pass the Bigger Better Bottle Bill this session.”

“New Yorkers across every region and political background are saying the same thing: it’s time to cut the waste. The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is a smart, overdue solution that will reduce plastic pollution, save taxpayer dollars, and make our communities healthier. Albany must act now—there’s no excuse to delay,” said Vanessa Fajans-Turner, Executive Director, Environmental Advocates NY.

Just in the past week, two new reports were released demonstrating the massive savings that would come from passing the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act and Bigger Better Bottle Bill. Taxpayers and private hauler customers would save $1.3 billion in just one decade by reducing packaging, and $108 million each year with the modernizedBottle Bill.

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;
• By 2052, all packaging — including plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, and metal — must meet a recycling rate of 75% (with incremental benchmarks until then);
• Prohibit 17 of packaging’s worst toxic chemicals, including all PFAS chemicals, vinyl chloride, lead, and mercury;
• Prohibit the harmful process known as chemical recycling to be considered real recycling;
• 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.

Because the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would save tax dollars, over 30 localities across the state have passed resolutions urging Albany leaders to pass the bill. The New York City Council passed a resolution in support, and Mayor Adams released a memorandum of support in favor of the legislation. More than 240 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.”

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 is made from fossil fuels and contains 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, and only 9% of all the plastic waste ever generated, globally, has been 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 is being measured everywhere, and microplastics are entering our soil, food, water, and air. Scientists estimate people consume, on average, hundreds of thousands of microplastics 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 new study from Columbia University found that bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of plastic fragments.

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.