Proposed law would help ease plastics pollution crisis

Dear Editor,

We’re facing twin, intertwined crises — plastic pollution and climate change — and our elected leaders must act to address them both ASAP.

With 15 million metric tons of plastic entering our oceans each year, experts predict there will be one pound of plastic for every three pounds of fish by 2025.

But plastic pollution is not just an oceans problem, it’s also a major contributor to climate change. Plastics are made from chemicals (many of them toxic) and ethane, a byproduct of hydrofracking. At every stage of their lifecycle, plastics contribute to our climate change crisis. In fact, if plastics were a country, it would be the world’s fifthlargest greenhouse gas emitter.

Fortunately, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act introduced in Congress in 2019 (soon to be reintroduced) would address the root causes of our plastic pollution crisis and slow climate change by forcing corporations to take responsibility for their plastic (aka Extended Producer Responsibility), pressing pause on new plastics facilities, banning certain nonrecyclable single-use items, spurring investments in U.S. recycling and composting infrastructure, and more.

I’m grateful to my representative, U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, for co-sponsoring the bill in the previous session. However, I’m very disappointed that neither U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., nor U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, DN.Y., have co-sponsored this essential legislation yet.

I urge both senators to uphold New York state’s commitment to slowing climate change and to protect the health of all New Yorkers by co-sponsoring the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act as soon as it is reintroduced next month.

Eve Fox Woodstock, N.Y. The writer is digital director of the group Beyond Plastics.