By Adopting the “Circular Economy” NY Can Minimize Waste and Create Opportunity (Your Letters)

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Sustainable innovation and practical legislation can solve our pressing waste crisis.

Our landfills are overflowing with waste. Incineration causes waste to become airborne and creates toxic ash, which must then be landfilled. Either way, resources are wasted and waste is a sign of inefficiency. The problem is clear: Valuable resources currently being discarded can be recycled and reused if, alongside legislation, we focus on new recycling technologies that make it easier for companies to adapt, shift, change and manage their manufacturing processes.

While well intentioned, our current municipal and private resource management systems fail to keep waste off our land, air and waterways. Current practices also require the constant extraction of new raw materials, which bring their own environmental problems.

The transition to a circular economy will strengthen and protect New York’s natural resources and increase the well-being of local communities. In contrast to our current linear model of resource use (Extract>Process>Use>Dispose), a circular economy relies on both traditional or mechanical recycling and material molecular recycling to bring what was once considered trash back to market as waste for new ones products for consumers.

Adopting a circular economy is a godsend for both the environment and the economy, preventing excessive physical and financial waste. It encourages recycling and reuse of existing products as raw materials, while our linear model exhausts additional natural and financial resources to develop new products. The economic efficiency and environmental sustainability inherent in a circular economy will create new jobs and new opportunities across the state.

One way New York can help promote the circular economy is by introducing an enhanced Producer Responsibility (EPR) program. EPR holds manufacturers responsible for the end-of-life management of their packaging and encourages the development of more sustainable products and packaging that use fewer resources and keep waste out of the environment. This fundamental shift in manufacturing can help fight climate change and drastically reduce waste.

However, to maximize the amount of waste recycled, we need to innovate and update our recycling infrastructure. Today, much of our waste is sent to mechanical recycling plants. Mechanical recycling typically only allows clean plastics numbered 1, 2 or 5 to be recycled, and as the product is recycled multiple times, the quality of the material decreases significantly. Fortunately, there are recycling technologies, such as material-to-material molecular recycling, that can always turn waste left over from mechanical recycling into new products.

The New York State Legislature is currently considering the Packing Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S.4246/A.5322), which would establish an EPR program for packaging. This is an important measure, but as currently written, it only allows mechanical recycling. Mechanical recycling alone will continue to choke landfills, rivers and waterways with waste that could otherwise re-enter the circular economy as new, high-value products made from recycled materials. To effectively increase our recycling rates, we must implement an EPR program that supports material-to-material recycling options.

New York can lead this approach to economic growth while meeting our need to reduce waste and protect the health of our communities and the environment. We urge state legislators to enact an EPR program during the current legislative session that includes recycling innovations and promotes the transition from a resource economy to a circular economy.

By expanding recycling and reuse policies, we can build a more sustainable and economically viable future for the Empire State.

Bob Rossi

Managing Director

New York Sustainable Business Council

Albany

The New York Sustainable Business Council represents more than 2,000 companies statewide.