Opinion: New York is ready for single-use plastic waste reduction

This week, New York City is hosting over 900 events dedicated to creating bold solutions to the climate crisis. Across all five boroughs, business leaders, politicians, climate activists, scientists and academics from across the world are gathering for conversations on clean energy solutions, decarbonizing industries and sustainable development. 

New Yorkers know how to lead the charge on bold climate action. We have fought for and passed legislation like Local Law 97, which cuts dirty greenhouse gas emissions and lowers energy costs, and the Climate Superfund Act of 2024 that holds major polluters accountable by mandating they pay for the coastal protections New Yorkers rely on during storms. During climate week, we recognize the need for bold global solutions, but some solutions are plain and simple, and right in our backyard. In 2025, why are we not moving the government towards waste reduction?

Every day, New York City residents throw away 12,000 tons of waste. Only 17% of this staggering amount is recyclable. What is thrown away is not truly thrown away, but instead only sent away. Non-recyclable waste produced in New York City is hauled away in diesel trucks to landfills in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio or Virginia. Each time we transport waste across state lines in diesel trucks, it contributes significantly to air pollution in the city. In total, these trucks carry the garbage 7.8 million miles every year. In other words, our annual waste travels a distance of more than 312 times around the earth. 

Not only is the city’s waste problem harmful to the environment, it is harmful to the economy. Due to the rising costs of transportation, cost per ton of landfill space and out-of-state fees, the total cost of waste export expenditures in Fiscal Year 2025 in New York City is $495 million that could instead be used to fund education, healthcare, transportation infrastructure or public safety initiatives. These expenses are not necessary. We are capable of implementing solutions that will reduce the damage to our environment and to the wallets of New York taxpayers all at once. To significantly decrease the quantity of waste the city produces, we must commit to reducing single-use plastics.

Our city is in a crisis of plastic production. A 2020 Department of Sanitation study estimated that 742 million single-use plastic bottles and 20,000 tons of plastic foodware are discarded annually. As of 2021, 36 million pounds of single-use plastic were found in the city’s waste stream each year. These plastics pile up in landfills, contaminate our ecosystems and leach toxic chemicals into our food and water. The consequences are severe, from harming wildlife to causing long-term health problems for humans, including cancers and lung disease. It is abundantly clear that our city cannot afford to keep relying on single-use plastics.

And New Yorkers are ready to move on. According to an April 2025 poll, New York residents overwhelmingly support state policies to reduce single-use plastic packaging. The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, a bill that would require big companies to reduce packaging on their products, has enormous bipartisan support: from 80% of Democrats, 62% of independents, and 60% of Republicans statewide. The message is clear: New Yorkers want bold action to tackle plastic waste, and they want it now.

This is not just about sustainability. It is about justice. Too often, it is low-income communities and communities of color that bear the greatest burden of pollution and inadequate waste infrastructure. Diesel truck routes run through these neighborhoods, landfills and transfer stations are placed nearby and residents face higher rates of asthma and other health problems as a result. Children in South Bronx neighborhoods like Hunts Point and Mott Haven – where truck traffic, waste transfer stations, and highways converge – face disproportionate asthma rates and emergency room visits. By reducing waste and modernizing our systems, we can protect public health, cut greenhouse gas emissions and create a fairer city for everyone.

Bold solutions to waste reduction are within reach. By committing to systemic change, we can save taxpayer dollars, reduce pollution and protect our environment all at once. But we must act now. Each year we delay, the problem grows more expensive, more dangerous and harder to solve.

New York has shown the world what bold climate leadership looks like. Now, it’s time to show that same courage when it comes to waste. Together, we can make sustainability the norm, not the exception, and create a cleaner, healthier future for generations to come.