Harckham Introduces Bill to Reduce Packaging, Help Environment
Anyone who has had a package delivered to their door from an online purchase is all too familiar with the excessive level of materials that accompanies the merchandise.
It isn’t just an annoyance for the consumer, but that extreme packaging is an environmental hazard and costs municipalities and taxpayers money to get rid of it.
In an effort to combat the needless material, state Sen. Peter Harckham (D-Lewisboro) recently introduced legislation that will phase in percentages of packaging that must be reduced over a 12-year period for companies with more than $1 million in annual income.
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would also force those companies to improve their recycling efforts and pay to help communities upgrade their municipal programs and recycling infrastructure.
“When we talk to our town and county officials, they repeat the same mantra, that the disposal of packaging and recyclable materials, the situation is dire,” Harckham said last week at the Department of Public Works facility in Mount Kisco where he spoke about the bill.
On average, every New Yorker generates about five pounds of garbage every day, resulting in about 15 million tons of trash a year throughout the state. That number has soared since the start of the pandemic, he said.
However, only 5 to 6 percent of the nation’s trash got recycled in the U.S. in 2021, Harckham said. While the percentage is better in New York, it’s still only 12 to 14 percent. As a result, the material needs to be burned in incinerators or buried in landfills, which costs municipalities to haul it to its destination along with hurting the environment, he said.
“This is incredibly important that we set up a framework where the producers are incentivized to reduce the amount of packaging they produce,” Harckham said. “Any of us who orders from an online service is always amazed at the amount of packaging. You can order one small bottle of something and it can be in three or four different wrappings and boxes. This is wasteful and costing consumers money.”
The bill projects that when fully implemented it will save New York City about $100 million a year and the remainder of the state’s municipalities at least that much combined, he said.
County Legislator Erika Pierce (D-Katonah) said the public has little to no control over the volume of packaging they receive but the bill would encourage companies to remove as much of it as possible.
Regardless of whether a resident contracts with a hauler or pays the town or county for their waste and recycling, the excess material is costing them money.
“Then we pay environmentally, as these items are shipped to and fro, as the mayor just described, trucks rumbling up and down our streets and off to transfer stations like the one we’re standing in right now,” Pierce said.
Needing to pick up inordinate amounts of packaging also wastes the time and efforts of DPW crews that could be helping municipalities with other tasks, said Mount Kisco Mayor Gina Picinich.
Under Harckham’s bill, 10 percent of recycling weight must be reduced within three years; 20 percent within five years; 30 percent in eight years; 40 percent in 10 years and 50 percent within 12 years.
Harckham said there has been little pushback from the business community because there would be motivation to reduce packaging.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
