BILL NUMBER: S6647A

SPONSOR: KRUEGER
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to the prohibition of the use of plastic beverage container
packaging

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill would reduce plastic pollution and the destruction of marine
life due to plastic devices used to package beverage containers, common-
ly referred to as "six pack rings" by prohibiting the sale of beverages
held together by such packaging.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

The bill amends subdivision 3 of section 27-1011 of the Environmental
Conservation Law to prohibit the sale of beverage containers connected
to each other by a separate holding device constructed of plastic.

 
              

JUSTIFICATION:

New York State currently regulates the sale of beverage containers using
plastic devices commonly referred to as "six pack rings." These regu-
lations were enacted due to increased understanding of the particular
dangers of these plastic products to marine life, including a 1987 story
by the Associated Press that an estimated one million seabirds and
100,000 marine mammals were killed by the devices every year. Since
1994, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has mandated that all
such six pack rings must be degradable, either by being photodegradable
or biodegradable or both. New York law follows suit by requiring that
any deposit initiator, beverage distributor or dealer should only sell
beverage containers held together by six pack rings that can decompose
or be recycled.

Although this law has helped prevent animals from harm due to becoming
entangled in the devices, plastic pollution, particularly in the ocean,
continues to be a major environmental danger. As reported in National
Geographic and elsewhere, an estimated 18 billion pounds of plastic
makes its way into the ocean each year, and over 40 percent of that is
from single-use plastics, including six pack rings.  Although the reen-
gineered rings do decompose and break apart, they break into micro-sized
plastic particles that can be ingested by fish as well as maritime birds
and mammals, which can fatally clog the animal's digestive system. An
estimated 700 maritime species continue to be harmed by plastic in the
ocean.

A number of beverage companies have begun marketing beverage containers
held together by packaging that is edible and completely biodegradable.
In 2016, Saltwater Brewery, a, Florida craft beer company, packages its
beverage containers using a holder made entirely from the barley and
wheat that is left over from the brewing process, yielding packaging
that is completely edible and biodegradable.  Several craft breweries
have followed suit and, at the end of 2018, Corona became the first
international brand to announce it would use beverage container holders
made from plant-based biodegradable fibers mixed with other compostable
materials.


Given the continued harm to the environment and ocean life posed by
single-used plastics, and the technological leap forward within the
beverage industry through the increased use of environmentally-friendly
alternatives to plastic six-pack rings, the time has come to come to
update New York's regulations on plastic beverage container holders.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
January 1, 2022.