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Cut the Trash: Time for New York to Pass the Waste Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act


Waste (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


Say you order a pair of shoes online. The oversized box comes in; you cut it open to reveal more packaging and the shoebox, and then you finally get to your shoes, which are surrounded by a pile of cardboard, paper, and plastic. You’re a thoughtful, environmentally conscious New Yorker, so you take the gargantuan box out to the curb for recycling and throw out the extras that you can’t recycle. 

Here’s the thing, though – your online retailer didn’t have to send you a box three times bigger than your shoes, and they didn’t have to fill it with hard-to-recycle plastic. They can tackle this problem on the front end instead of making it your responsibility to recycle or dispose of their wasteful packaging. That’s why it’s so important that Governor Hochul and legislative leaders pass the Waste Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act by the end of this state legislative session, so those companies will have to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their packaging. 

If passed into law, cities and taxpayers that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on processing packaging and paper waste would see responsibility and financial burden shift to the companies responsible for making the products to begin with. It would incentivize those companies to use fewer materials and make those materials easier to recycle – all while providing desperately needed reimbursement to municipalities processing those products. 

Throughout New York State and New York City, local communities, governments, and conservation organizations are working tirelessly to reduce the massive ecological footprint of over 15 million tons of statewide waste per year. But individual responsibility only goes so far. The urgency of the climate crisis demands systemwide waste diversion and realignment of incentives for manufacturers. This bill achieves that by requiring packaging and distribution companies to reduce their waste or foot the bill. This law alone is estimated to reduce landfill waste from New York City by 600,000 pounds every day – the same weight as about 344 trucks. 

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies like this one aren’t new. They are utilized around the globe to shift the financing of waste management from the taxpayer to the producers of waste. EPR programs encourage sustainable product design and increase recycling through incentivized fee structures, recyclability targets, convenience requirements, and strong oversight. California, Maine, Colorado, and Oregon have passed similar laws, incentivizing companies to create more environmentally sustainable packaging products. These have boosted recycling rates in some areas where laws have been well-implemented to as high as 70%.

New York State already has EPR laws in place for paint, electronics, rechargeable batteries, and pharmaceuticals. As a result, our state has seen significant increases in diversion of these materials from landfills and saved millions of dollars. Last year, thanks to the work of the Senate and Assembly, we were able to get the Extended Producer Responsibility bill for carpets passed and signed into law by Governor Hochul.

New York City could receive more than $150 million in revenue generated by this bill, which would cover about 30% of the city’s residential waste stream. This is a win for the city and the state; other municipalities statewide are estimated to receive $300 million.

Similar versions of this legislation have been on the table since 2020, but have been pushed out of the budget and never voted on later in legislative session. Every year we delay, New York City taxpayers foot that $150 million bill. 

Municipalities cannot afford to leave money on the table and our environment cannot continue to bear needless waste. I urge the Governor, Speaker Heastie, and Leader Stewart-Cousins to come to the table to get waste reduction for packaging and paper done this year.

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Julie Tighe is President of the New York League of Conservation Voters, NYLCV. On Twitter @julietighe17 & @NYLCV.

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