Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

extended producer responsibility

extended producer responsibility

  • Cut the Trash: Time for New York to Pass the Waste Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act

    Waste (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Say you order a pair of shoes online. The oversized box comes in; you cut it open to reveal more packaging and the shoebox, and then you finally get to your shoes, which are surrounded by a pile of cardboard, paper, and plastic. You’re a thoughtful, environmentally conscious New Yorker, so you take the gargantuan box out to the curb for recycling and throw out the extras that you can’t recycle. 

    Here’s the thing, though – your online retailer didn’t have to send you a box three

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  • New York Must Take on Massive Packaging Waste

    Garbage (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    In a recentTikTok video, a woman opens a giant cardboard box and pulls out layers and layers of bubble wrap, only to reveal four more tiny cardboard boxes, each of which contain a single napkin ring. The caption reads, “Am I on PUNK’D?

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  • Letter To The Editor: Papering Over Recycling Success

    Paper recycling (photo: Michael Anton/NY City Department of Sanitation))


    To the Editor:  

    The March 28, 2022 column, “For the Earth, It’s Essential New York Leaders Pass Extended Producer Responsibility,” by New York League of Conservation Voters President Julie Tighe misses the mark by urging lawmakers in Albany to pass an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy. State legislators should pursue a more deliberative approach to consider New

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  • For the Earth, It's Essential New York Leaders Pass Extended Producer Responsibility

    Trash (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    New Yorkers buy and order a lot of stuff. And all of that stuff comes in packaging, all too much of it plastic. So much stuff that of the 17 million tons of waste generated annually in New York State, 40% comes from product packaging and paper products – plastic containers, glass bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard, and other materials.

    Across the United States,...