Bill Would Require Most Companies to Dramatically Reduce Product Packaging

by Meir Sternhill

A bill introduced by a Democratic lawmaker would require most companies in New York to make deep cuts in the amount of paper and plastic used in packaging their products. If passed, it would require companies with net earnings of at least $1 million to make significant changes in how they ship items.

State Sen. Peter Harckham of Westchester, who chairs the Senate's environmental conservation committee, said that with recycling having fallen to decades-lows, the only way to revive it is by going directly to the source. 

“The only way we can begin to mitigate the growing issue of waste pollution, which threatens our natural resources," Harckham said in a statement, "is for the initial producers of this waste to be fully involved with the end-of-life solutions."

The bill, if enacted, would give the companies three years to reduce packaging by 10 percent of weight; by five years, that rises to 20 percent and within 12 years, waste would have to be reduced by 50 percent.

Within a year of it becoming law, Harckham's bill would also demand that companies pay membership in what he calls a "Producer's Responsibility Organization."

The vast majority of bills proposed are not taken up by Albany.