Every day, we read headlines in the news about our continuing affordability crisis. As a member of the New York State Assembly representing parts of the Bronx, these headlines echo the concerns I hear constantly from my constituents.
Whether I’m talking with a parent at school pickup, a senior at a tenant meeting, or a small business owner on one of our commercial corridors, the message is the same. Between rising rents, groceries, childcare, and transportation costs, families are doing the math every day just to make it to the end of the month.
For many state and local governments across the country, those financial pressures have become a barrier to addressing other urgent issues. In New York, we’ve seen that tension play out in our efforts to address our waste crisis. At a time when our constituents are worried about putting food on the table, it’s hard to think about taking action to reduce unnecessary waste that may drive up the price of groceries and other essential items.
When everything costs too much, environmental justice feels like a luxury conversation. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
New York can tackle affordability while still confronting other difficult challenges, including the urgent need to reduce waste. We can improve public health while protecting people’s financial security. We can move forward without forcing families to choose between economic stability and clean neighborhoods.
I know it’s possible because progressive states like Minnesota and Maryland under the leadership of Governors Tim Walz and Wes Moore have already done this. And we’re ready to do it here, too, through the Affordable Waste Reduction Act.
For years, the debate over plastic waste in Albany has been stuck because some have treated environmental action and affordability as opposing goals. Well-intentioned ideas have been proposed that would drive up grocery prices, hitting working-class communities like those I represent hardest.
My district cannot afford policies that make everyday items more expensive. And we don’t need policies like that to solve the problem.
The Affordable Waste Reduction Act takes a smart approach. It requires the companies that produce packaging to help fund the systems needed to manage it responsibly.
Right now, New York’s recycling infrastructure is decades behind where it needs to be. Residents want to recycle, but confusing rules, inconsistent collection, and old technology mean too much waste still ends up in landfills or on our streets. In neighborhoods like mine, that translates directly into environmental injustice.
The Affordable Waste Reduction Act fixes the root of the problem. Producer fees would finance the long-overdue modernization of recycling facilities, standardized statewide recycling, and public education so people finally know what belongs in the bin. It would also incentivize companies to innovate, designing packaging that is reusable, recyclable, or compostable in the first place, which will reduce waste before it ever reaches the curb.
And crucially, it does this without raising prices on consumers. Whereas prematurely banning packaging materials that keep our food and medicine safe before alternatives exist would simply add costs that producers would pass onto consumers, this bill instead leverages incentives to foster innovation in packaging design while expanding what we’re able to recycle. This ensures families won’t be penalized for buying necessities.
I know that for the families I represent, that matters.
Too often, low-income neighborhoods bear the consequences of waste – transfer stations, truck traffic, air pollution – while having the least power to change it. This bill aims to reverse that. Environmental justice should never be a privilege reserved for people who can afford organic groceries and reusable containers.
It should be a baseline guarantee for every New Yorker.
The Affordable Waste Reduction Act moves us in that direction while recognizing economic realities. It shows we don’t have to wait for a perfect moment when inflation disappears or household budgets magically loosen. We can keep doing big things now, responsibly.
New Yorkers deserve policies grounded in the real world. We can protect wallets and the environment together.
This bill is how we do it.
