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Note: Welcome To RCBJ’s “Your Voices” Column. This feature runs periodically. If you have something to say, in a well-reasoned essay of 500 to 700 words, email the editor at ttraster@rcbizjournal.com
Your Voices: Legislation Aimed To Minimize Packaging Material Waste, Overwhelmingly Supported By New Yorkers, Dies In New York Assembly
By Suzanne Barclay and Laura Graves
You must be doing something right when lobbyists from Amazon, Delta, McDonald’s and 103 other corporations swarm Albany to oppose your environmental bill. In the last few days of the 2025 session lobbyists fought to ensure that the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, known as PRRIA, wouldn’t make it to the Assembly for a vote. It had passed the Senate but the final step, a vote by the Assembly, never happened. This, despite a Sienna poll that showed that 73% of New Yorkers support a reduction in all types of packaging. The New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government found that PRRIA was the first and second most lobbied bill in the final two months of the 2025 session.
PRRIA is an attempt to limit the enormous and unmanageable waste that has been created by packaging in general and plastic in particular. This bill will require a 30% reduction in all packaging including plastic on items manufactured in or imported into New York state, require 75% of the remaining packaging to be reused or recycled by 2052, phase out the use of 17 of the most harmful chemicals currently used in plastic packaging and provide funding for municipal recycling infrastructure. It begins to make corporations responsible for the waste they create but which currently all of us pay to manage. Companies have twelve years to comply, so plenty of time to innovate or accommodate.
If and when PRRIA passes, New York state would become the eighth state to begin to attempt to manage this enormous waste problem. California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington have passed EPR (extended producer responsibility) legislation which shifts the burden of waste management from consumers and taxpayers to producers. All are in various stages of implementing this new legislation. Connecticut, Massachusetts and Delaware are now debating EPR legislation. Despite this progress, plastic lobbyists have successfully convinced 22 states to prohibit restrictions on single use plastics. Given that single-use plastic production is projected to increase three-fold by 2050, eventually all states will need to grapple with burgeoning plastic waste, beyond simply recycling.
Last month the non-profit organization Beyond Plastics issued Follow the Money: The David vs. Goliath Battle to Pass the New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, an analysis of lobbying efforts for this bill. Senator Peter Harckham and Assemblywoman Deborah Glick convinced 300 environmental organizations such as NRDC, Sierra Club and Oceana to sign support letters. Over 130 faith leaders and numerous governmental groups such as the NYS Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, the New York State Association of Counties, the City of New York and others indicated their support. And even though the Albany Times-Union, Buffalo News and New York Daily News all wrote favorable editorials, it wasn’t enough to overcome the influence and maneuvering of lobbyists.
Who are the companies that sought to bury this bill? They include some of the largest in the nation: Amazon, Walmart, Coca-Cola, 3M, Anheuser-Busch, Procter & Gamble, Apple, Delta Airlines, Hallmark Cards, Koch Government Affairs, Kraft-Heinz Foods, McDonald’s USA LLC and scores of other companies. How much did they spend to achieve their goal? As explained in Beyond Plastics’ report, it’s not possible to determine the amount used for lobbying against this bill because companies are only required to report the total amount spent, not the amount for a specific bill.
The PRRIA will be re-introduced in January, 2026 and needs passage only by the New York State Assembly. Time will tell whether the 100+ lobbyists have the staying power and commitment of the 300+ organizations that are championing for its enactment.
Suzanne Barclay and Laura Graves and C0-founders of Beyond Plastic, Rockland Chapter
