NY Environmentalists’ Next Target? Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices Face Ban Under Far-Reaching Bill
nypost.com | April 21, 2024 | Carl Campanile

(Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Carl…)

Individually wrapped cheese would be largely banned under a far-reaching bill getting pushed by New York environmentalists and politicians to reduce the use of plastics, The Post has learned.

What if I want to put some cheese in a lunch bag for use later without getting damaged? I have to use the more-plastic Tupperware? Or Zip-Lok bags??

The following name of the bill, as always, is the opposite of its consequences:

The state bill — called Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act — would require companies with net incomes over $1 million who sell or distribute food or products to reduce plastics and other packaging that ends in landfills or waterways by 50% over the next 12 years.

Now, wait a second. How does a company that packages food acquire the ability to limit the amount of packaging discarded in waterways? Will they be given badges and guns and ATVs? Miami Vice speedboats?

It would also impose a fee on companies that use plastic packages, with money going toward recycling programs and infrastructure. 

Name a company that does not use plastic packages.

And the money will “go toward” . . . but will never quite get there. As the money from tolls goes toward paying for highway repairs. We should have streets of gold by now.

“This legislation shifts the onus of recycling from municipalities and ensures that producers of products are serving our interests by establishing solutions to sustainable packaging,” Sen. Peter Harckham (D-Peekskill) said in a memo promoting the bill.

He sounds like a cat’s hairball.

The typical New Yorker creates nearly 5 pounds of trash every day, …

… whereas the typical New Yorker article …

… which means the state produces approximately 15 million tons of waste each year, according to Harckham,

Gesundheit

… who introduced the measure along with Assemblywoman Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan).

“This waste primarily goes to landfills and incinerators, but can often end up in our water, natural habitats, and municipal spaces,” the memo said.

Four states have implemented similar programs — Maine, Oregon, Colorado and California.

One leading environmentalist backing the bill confirmed that the goal is to eliminate single slices of cheese packaged in non-reusable plastic,

It’s already reusable. But it’s not like any sane person is going to use it for toilet paper or whatever.

… as well as other wasteful packaging.

“We have to do something about the plastic crisis,” said Judith Enck, president of the group Beyond Plastics.

Oh, I’d love to evaluate her possessions and the products she uses…

Just tell them that The Plastic Crisis ™ exactly offsets Global Warming.

2024 Graduate: “Anti-Plastics.”