Materials and Waste 📍
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Vote expected to limit single-use plastics after bill error
New York lawmakers said Wednesday they expect to pass legislation at the end of the week to limit single-use plastic packaging in the state after a bill printing error forced the measure to be amended for the second night in a row, and despite continued pushback from state business leaders.
Despite the unexpected procedural error, senior staff of legislative leaders have negotiated the Packaging and Recycling Infrastructure Act for days to reach a two-way agreement without the Executive Chamber. It was first updated late Monday and would mandate companies with a net income over $5 million reduce their plastic packaging products by 30% in 12 years. It would also prohibit 17 several toxic chemicals commonly in food packaging.
"We're finding microplastics in people's bodies," Assembly sponsor Deborah Glick told Spectrum News 1. "We don't know what the long-term health costs are going to be, so this is a common-sense, staged, stepped program to reduce packaging, share the cost, save our municipalities' and taxpayers' dollars and at the same time, ensure that businesses are keeping up with the demands of the market place."
It signed into law, the measure will create an Extended Producer Responsibility system in the state and require producers of packaging cover the costs of consumer waste and reduce used toxins. The system would charge companies that continue to use the single-use products a fee as the materials threaten to overrun landfills and are known to be harmful to human health.
Save the Post Office? 📬
![Untitled [Expires July 26 2026]](https://andyarthur.org//data/photo_025107_large.jpg)
The post office isn’t going anywhere. The constitution guarantees the post office and federal law requires them to set postal rates equal to their cost. The agency is off budget and doesn’t receive taxpayer money nor should it. If the post office needs money, then it should raise rates. Mail is a lot more expensive than years ago but people are still mailing letters and advertisers are still stuffing my mailbox full constantly.
Honestly, with the amount of mail I send these days, I wouldn’t mind spending a buck or two to mail a letter. Usually letters are at least that valuable to me to mail. Charge advertisers a buck or two too, they clearly can afford it. I rarely send mail, maybe one or two letters a year. But I sure get a lot of junk mail that I’m not interested in reading and it goes straight to the recycling bin. Based on the amount of junk mail I get, I feel like advertisers could pay a heck of a lot more for the amount of trash that is delivered to my mail box daily. I think many weeks the mail delivery is one of my biggest sources of trash.
Aerial surveys show US landfills are major source of methane emissions | Reuters
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - Over half of U.S. landfills observed by aerial surveys are super-emitting sources of methane, according to a new study in the journal Science published on Thursday. The study is the largest assessment to date of methane from landfills, the third-largest source of U.S. methane emissions, and suggests an opportunity to tackle climate change by targeting a prevalent and potent greenhouse gas. It was led by research group Carbon Mapper, with researchers from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Scientific Aviation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.