Bill Memo: Skip the Plastic Water Bottle in State Parks

1-Tree: Beneficial rating

Summary

This bill amends section 3.09 of the parks, recreation, and historic preservation law to prohibit the sale of single use plastic water bottles in state parks managed by the Office of Parks, Recreation, Historic Preservation.

Explanation

This legislation prohibits the sale of single-use plastic water bottles in state parks.  The impacts of plastic water bottles are astounding and that’s why this bill is important to help protect our precious state parks from plastic litter and pollution, and to encourage a shift in behavior by making plastic water bottles less available and encourage park goers to bring and use reusable water bottles.   Plastic water bottles are everywhere! From 1999 and 2019 global sales of single-use plastic bottles more than doubled, rising from 17% to 41% Throughout the world, consumers purchase around one million single-use plastic beverage containers every single minute.  In addition, the global plastic pollution crisis is directly tied to the climate crisis. More than 17 million barrels of oil are required to produce enough disposable plastic water bottles to meet America’s annual demand for bottled water. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86% of disposable water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter, adding 38 billion disposable water bottles in U.S. landfills.  This bill is a good start in reducing plastic pollution from these ubiquitous bottles and to help address our climate crisis.  

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Environmental Advocates NY Bill Rating: Beneficial

Memo #: 29