The people of Staten Island once had the dubious distinction of living with the Fresh Kills Landfill — home to what was once the world’s largest garbage dump and a reminder that we live in a throwaway society. As residents of Staten Island know all too well, there is no “away” when it comes to plastic waste. Thankfully, Assemblyman Charles Fall knows this and is taking action by co-sponsoring the New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act.

Single-use plastic packaging is sickening us, polluting our environment, and costing taxpayers a lot of money. The plastic that’s getting thrown out today has proven more harmful than much of the garbage that made Fresh Kills infamous.

Plastic is polluting waterways, filling landfills, spewing toxins from garbage-burning incinerators, and leaching chemicals into our food and water. And most plastics are not designed to be recycled.

More and more, health risks from the production, use, and disposal of plastics are coming to light. Microplastics have been found everywhere from drinking water to human blood, lungs, breast milk, and placenta. The chemicals used in plastic packaging can interfere with critical human hormones, including estrogen, and lead to increased risks of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, birth defects, premature birth, neurodevelopmental disorders, infertility and cancer.

This is a monster that’s growing out of control. Plastic production is projected to triple by 2060. All the while, it’s contributing to climate change four times faster than air travel. And plastic litter often washes off of city streets and winds up in the Atlantic Ocean — a watery new landfill.

It’s up to the states to start reining in the growing problem of plastic pollution, and Staten Island’s state lawmakers can help. The New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would reduce the amount of single-use plastic packaging, make packaging less toxic, and shift some of the cost of handling this proliferating environmental and health risk away from local taxpayers.

Three cheers for state Assemblymember Charles Fall for co-sponsoring and supporting this important bill. In stark contrast, state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton voted against this pro-environment / pro-tax-savings bill last June and this year is actually co-sponsoring a rival bill, backed by the plastics and petrochemical industries. That new bill accomplishes next to nothing but was introduced to slow passage of the good bill. Given the history of the Fresh Kills Landfill, it’s surprising that a Staten Island lawmaker would vote against a waste-reduction bill that would result in less waste going to landfills and incinerators.

A 2024 Siena College poll found two-thirds of New York voters support the bill, which passed the state Senate last year but did not reach the Assembly floor for a vote, while 82% of state voters said single-use plastic packaging is a problem.

The bill would:

• Reduce packaging by 30% over 12 years
• Mandate that at least 75% of remaining packaging be reused or recycled by 2052 — with a minimum 20% being reused
• Prohibit the use of 17 harmful and potentially cancer-causing chemicals and materials in packaging, including PFAS, mercury and lead
• Put fees on large companies to encourage the use of safer packaging, while reducing the burden for handling plastic waste on local taxpayers — who now spend millions of dollars to fund municipal recycling and waste programs.

Enacting this comprehensive bill would make New York the national leader in fighting single-use plastic packaging — and greatly reduce waste. Other countries with “extended producer responsibility” policies have achieved recycling rates reaching 70% to 80%. New York state’s current rate: 19%.

There’s no evidence of product price increases in Canada and European nations that have enacted similar legislation. And the New York bill includes exemptions for smaller companies (under $5 million in annual sales), dairy cooperatives with fewer than 50 employees, and others. It also exempts beverage containers with deposits covered under New York’s 1982 bottle bill and allows companies to apply for state tax credits to help them invest in new equipment required for implementation.

More than 250 local and statewide organizations and businesses, including nearly 40 in New York City, have endorsed the bill — along with the City of New York and the NYS Association of Counties.

Safer packaging is both possible and necessary. For the sake of our health and the health of future generations, it’s time to turn this ocean liner around. Enacting the New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would be a powerful start.

(Judith Enck is a former EPA regional administrator, the president of Beyond Plastics, and a professor at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont.)