Local Business Owners and Community Leaders Across New York Call On The Legislature To Make Recycling Better for Working New Yorkers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2024
Contact: [email protected]

NEW YORK – A concerned group of community leaders, business owners and labor leaders announced today a new coalition dedicated to reforming New York’s bottle deposit system, so it is more efficient and convenient for working New Yorkers and local businesses.

The New Yorkers for Better Recycling coalition is made up of a diverse group of partners, including:

• Clergy College Council Committee Community Civic Connection
• Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast
• Korean American Alliance of Greater New York
• Korean American Grocers Organization
• Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages
• New York Progressive Baptist State Convention
• New York State Pepsi Bottlers Association
• Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of New York

New York’s deposit system is broken. It’s outdated, costly, and needs to be reformed first before expansion or any changes to current fees are even considered. The state deposit system can – and should – be more efficient and effective for producers, retailers, business owners, and residents.

The coalition supports the modernizing of New York’s bottle deposit system in ways that can help achieve higher recycling rates without increasing fees on New Yorkers or hurting small businesses and their employees. The resonant concerns of labor leaders underscore the urgent need for reforms benefiting working New Yorkers.

Despite passing some of the strongest climate and environmental laws in the nation, New York remains well behind other states in redemption rates for recyclable materials. New Yorkers for Better Recycling believes we can lead the nation with reforms that can transform a costly and ineffective system into a high-performing collection system without adding to the financial burdens of New Yorkers.

“The cost of living in New York is becoming out of reach for working people. Current proposals being considered by the New York Legislature would increase the cost of the beverages we buy even more,” said Rev. Robert Linden, Senior Pastor, Bethelite Institutional Baptist Church, Brooklyn, NY, Former President New York Progressive Baptist State Convention. “We understand the need to recycle more to help improve our environment, but that should not happen entirely on the backs of working people. We need a solution that is proven to work for all of us.”

Rather than expanding on the current antiquated system, New Yorkers for Better Recycling advocates a modern system in which the producers of recyclable materials are responsible for funding and operating the collection system with appropriate government oversight. Producers pay into the system and run it so that they can get more materials back to be remade into new products.

Under this reform, financial resources stay in the system to ensure its long-term viability and producers have a financial incentive to ensure the system remains efficient and effective. Leveraging expertise from where reform has worked elsewhere, this system would help raise recycling rates and enable better environmental outcomes.

“Expanding our redemption program without reforming the current system is only putting a band-aid on a broken dam. We need to institute proven methods that will reduce plastic waste in the environment and give a boost to local businesses. We have an obligation to ensure we’re doing everything possible to improve the way we recycle in our state, and we can only do that by re-working the system,” said Kwang Min Park, President of the Korean American Grocer Association.

New Yorkers for Better Recycling is a coalition of concerned residents dedicated to educating citizens, businesses and organizations about New York’s flawed collection system and how we can improve it. To learn more about the coalition and its work, visit: nybetterrecycling.com. Support provided by the American Beverage Association.

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