New Yorkers for Better Recycling Coalition Opposes Legislation to Increase Deposit Fees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Contact: [email protected]

NEW YORK – New Yorkers for Better Recycling, a coalition of community leaders and business owners who support improved recycling, opposes legislation to increase the deposits and fees of our deposit system without reforming this antiquated system first.

Legislation is being proposed to double the cost of what consumers pay for beverage deposits as well as increase costs dramatically on local small businesses that would have to be passed onto consumers in higher prices.

At a time when New Yorkers are still feeling the pain of inflation and high costs, it makes no sense for Albany politicians to double out-of-pocket costs on everyday beverages. Our recycling system needs to be modernized, and we can make it more effective and reduce fraud without dramatically raising prices that harm hardworking families.

Burdening consumers at a time when working families are struggling with inflation and higher costs for food and housing is egregious. Doubling the deposit will add $1.20 to the price of a 12-pack of soda and cost families $2.40 more for a 24-pack of bottled water. At a time when political leaders are talking about the high cost of goods, this proposal would raise prices on working families even more. The proposed legislation would also force consumers to lug some bottles to a center to be refilled, and then lug them back.

New York’s deposit system is broken. It is outdated, costly, and needs to be reformed first before expansion or any changes to current fees are even considered. There are better ways to improve recycling than raising prices and costs for working families, small businesses and their employees. The coalition supports modernizing New York’s bottle deposit system in ways that can help achieve higher recycling rates without increasing burdens on New Yorkers or hurting our local small businesses.

Despite passing some of the strongest climate and environmental laws in the nation, New York lags 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 supports a modern system in which the producers of recyclable materials are responsible for funding and operating the collection system with appropriate government oversight. Producers fund and run the system so that they can get more materials back to be remade into new products, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving resources.

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. This type of system is used elsewhere to achieve among the highest recycling rates in the U.S.

“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.

The New Yorkers for Better Recycling coalition is joined by the following organizations that have also expressed opposition to A.6353A/S.237C:

• Clergy College Council Committee Community Civic Connection
• Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast
• Korean Alliance for Greater New York
• Korean American Grocers Organization
• Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages
• Metropolitan Interdenominational Ministers Conference
• National Supermarket Association
• New York State AFL-CIO 
• New York State Conference of Teamsters
• New York State Pepsi Bottlers Association
• New York State Progressive Baptist Convention
• Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of New York
• Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
• Teamsters Local 812
• The Business Council of New York State
• United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500

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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