Letter to the Rockville Centre Herald Editor (March 31-April 6)

Posted

We must reduce plastic waste

To the Editor:

The State Legislature is working on extended producer responsibility, or EPR, policy to address our serious plastic waste crisis. This type of legislation can hold producers responsible for what ultimately happens to the packaging they use to contain their products, with the goal of reducing waste and moving us to more easily recyclable materials.

It is crucial that Albany gets it right. The petroleum, gas and chemical industries, the makers of plastic ingredients, as well as producers and packaging manufacturers, know this type of legislation is inevitable, but they don’t want it to cut into their profits. Right now, these groups are winning against groups that have only the environment at heart. But, producers shouldn’t be running the show and setting their own targets, and they shouldn’t be part of an advisory board, setting the rules and holding more power than environmental and consumer groups.

We need a bill that includes independent oversight, defined and substantive targets, investment in reuse/refill/recycle infrastructure, bans on toxins in plastics and bans on any burning of plastic waste. Hopefully New Yorkers will get the bill they need and deserve.

Karin Johnson, Rockville Centre