The action alert initiated by PRINTING United Alliance in opposition to the New York State Packaging Reduction and Recycling Act, that would have established an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program, was very successful. The bill died in the legislative session due to significant pressure by impacted entities, including members of the Alliance.
Bills were introduced in the New York State Assembly and Senate, and they became the focus of attention when the Governor’s attempt at imposing an EPR program was cut from the state’s budget bill.
To resolve the confusion from multiple bills, identical bills were introduced with only 5 days remaining in the legislative calendar. The identical bills had provisions that would have been very problematic for those who would have to pay the EPR fees, including some printing operations and all print customers. The bills would (1) preclude advanced recycling from both recycling and PCR content definitions; (2) not use plastics as a substitute to achieve source reduction; (3) ban PVC, polycarbonate, and polystyrene in packaging; (4) exclude packaging with certain toxic substances and chemistries from being recyclable; (5) and create a recycling inspector general.
The Alliance launched an Action Alert on June 5, 2023, encouraging its members to send letters of opposition to their representatives. The membership responded quickly and were met with success. In addition to the Action Alert, the Alliance signed onto a coalition letter and submitted its own opposition letter to New York lawmakers.
Without the support of our members in New York State who sent letters to their state senators and representatives, these bills would most likely have passed as written. The letters had a huge impact that resulted in no action being taken on the legislation. The members in New York State need to give themselves a collective pat on the back for a job well done.
In this article, Gary Jones, VP of EHS (Environmental, Health & Safety) Affairs, PRINTING United Alliance, addresses state environmental regulatory issues. More information about environmental regulations can be found at Business Excellence-Environmental, Health, and Safety or reach out to Gary should you have additional questions specific to how these issues may affect your business: gjones@printing.org.
To become a member of the Alliance and learn more about how our subject matter experts can assist your company with services and resources such as those mentioned in this article, please contact the Alliance membership team: 888-385-3588 / membership@printing.org.