Shandaken conservationist Karen Lee said she remains hopeful that a long-stalled state effort to restrict plastic packaging is moving forward, even after lawmakers softened key sections of the proposal this week.
“They’re softening the bill to get something on the books,” said Lee, 66, a member of the town’s Conservation Advisory Council who has lobbied in Albany for tighter restrictions on plastic use. “We all have high goals, but we have to have a place to start.”
Lee’s comments came after state Sen. Pete Harckham and Assemblymember Deborah Glick announced nearly 150 amendments to the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, a bill they sponsored. The proposal would require large producers to reduce packaging, make more packaging reusable or recyclable, help fund municipal recycling programs, reduce toxic substances in packaging, and continue to exclude “chemical recycling” from the state’s recycling definition.
Among the amendments, timelines were extended, five substances were dropped from the toxics section, and post-consumer recycled content standards were loosened. The legislators also stripped a proposal to establish an inspector general to enforce the bill and cut penalties to $10,000 per violation from $100,000.
The act had already been altered to reduce packaging waste to 30% from 50%.
Glick and Harckham said they made the changes after talks with manufacturers, advocacy organizations and additional research into producer responsibility practices. The bill has languished for three years, garnering strong public support while facing opposition from organizations such as the Business Council, which advocates for economic growth and job creation in New York state.
The council said the bill would push up consumer prices and calls for a more workable approach that places responsibility on producers, pushing for the Affordable Waste Reduction Act, which focuses on diverting recyclable materials into reuse and giving packaging and paper producers more say in setting up a “producer responsibility program.”
“Reducing plastics and toxic chemicals that are affecting public health should not be a controversial issue,” Alexis Goldsmith, the national organizing director at Beyond Plastics, a Bennington College-based group that aims to end single-use plastics, said before the bill’s latest changes.
Beyond Plastics said in a study last year that 105 businesses lobbied against the act in 2025’s first half, compared with 24 groups that supported—an advantage of four to one. Businesses hired many of the state’s most expensive lobbying firms, while just one pushed for environmental and public health advocates, according to Beyond Plastics.
Ulster County has many recycling challenges beyond reducing plastics, including dwindling landfill capacity, according to Eva Barnett of the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency.
“There is not an infinite amount of space,” she said April 21 at a presentation hosted by Shandaken’s Conservation Advisory Council. “There is no ‘away,’” she said.
Plastic recycling is full of misconceptions, she said. The recycling symbol or the “chasing arrows,” with the number inside doesn’t indicate whether something is recyclable, for example. That’s determined by its shape and size.
While residents often want to recycle everything they can, small, flimsy pieces of plastic can fly off of trucks, becoming litter or getting lost on a facility conveyor belt, she said. Some plastics are simply not designed to be recycled.
“It shouldn’t be up to the consumers to make these decisions,” Barnett said. “We have to go upstream to make these changes. While recycling can be a really great tool for our waste reduction, it is not the solution.”
Lee’s efforts in Shandaken reflect that sentiment. She pushes for residents to advocate against plastic overuse, supported the Pine Hill cleanup day on April 25, and invites supporters to a rally for the bill in Albany on May 11.
She said the bill could reduce plastic-related chemicals found in Hudson Valley well waters. The state Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency have linked PFAS exposure to health risks. Lee said she is concerned that plastic-related chemicals could affect Hudson Valley well water.
“I grew up in Upstate New York and I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have grown up in a very clean environment with clean water, fresh air,” she said. “I really feel strongly about continuing that legacy and I found many people here in the Catskills share that desire.”
Mia Quick is an editorial assistant at The Overlook. Send correspondence to mia@theoverlooknews.com.