The Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act — a state bill that would reduce wasteful single-use packaging and ban 16 highly toxic chemicals like PFAS, phthalates, and bisphenols in packaging — is being held hostage by special-interest lobbyists.
On one side, a bipartisan 73% of New Yorkers, local governments, leading environmental groups, more than 130 faith leaders, and more than 300 organizations support the bill. On the other side are corporate behemoths with deep pockets, including fossil fuel giants and the world’s biggest plastic polluters.
This bill would reduce unnecessary and polluting single-use plastic packaging, ensure that packaging is either reused or truly recycled, remove the most toxic chemicals, and save taxpayer dollars by shifting the burden of dealing with packaging waste to the companies that create it. It’s passed the state Senate two years in a row, yet despite broad popularity and a majority of 78 Assembly co-sponsors, it’s never been brought up for a vote in the Assembly.
“Follow The Money,” a new report from Beyond Plastics, shows that an eye-popping 107 companies and trade groups that benefit from the polluting and toxic status quo spent millions of dollars to defeat this bill in 2025.
I’m grateful to my Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha and my state Senator Michelle Hinchey for supporting the Packaging Reduction Act, and I urge Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to put the health and best interests of all New Yorkers over the profits of the plastics and chemical industries and bring this bill up for a vote when the Assembly reconvenes in January.
— Eve Fox
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