New Yorkers recently learned something important about Albany’s approach to public policy.
As the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board reported, Democratic lawmakers defending the state’s climate law openly acknowledged they knew it would raise costs on consumers and moved forward anyway. Higher utility bills and economic pain were not unintended consequences. They were viewed as acceptable sacrifices.
Now Albany risks repeating the same mistake with the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA), a sweeping packaging proposal that will affect virtually every product on grocery store shelves.
Everyone wants more recycling and less waste. The food industry supports practical solutions that improve sustainability and strengthen recycling systems. But lawmakers should not ignore the real-world cost impacts this bill could have on families already struggling with affordability.
At a time when New Yorkers are paying more for groceries, housing, utilities and transportation, Albany should be asking a simple question. Will this legislation make everyday life more affordable or less affordable?
Unfortunately, in its current form, PRRIA risks driving costs higher across the food supply chain.
The bill would impose new fees, restrictions and packaging mandates on producers, distributors and retailers. Those costs do not simply disappear. They move through the supply chain and ultimately reach consumers in the form of higher prices on food and household goods.
For many products, packaging is not cosmetic but instead essential to safety, freshness and affordability. Packaging helps prevent spoilage, protects products during transportation and extends shelf life. That matters enormously for working families trying to stretch grocery budgets.
The problem is that PRRIA currently relies too heavily on a narrow definition of recycling that does not reflect the realities of modern packaging and recycling technology.
Many common food packaging formats, including food trays, takeout containers, squeeze pouches, colored bottles and certain plastic films, are difficult to recycle through traditional mechanical recycling systems alone. If those packaging formats are effectively penalized or phased out without workable alternatives, costs will rise.
Companies may be forced to redesign packaging, reformulate products or shift to alternative materials that can be more expensive and less efficient. In some cases, products could disappear from shelves altogether.
That is not speculation. Oregon’s new Extended Producer Responsibility program already imposes substantially higher fees on packaging formats considered harder to recycle under conventional systems.
But here is the key point Albany lawmakers should understand: there is a better path available.
Research released this year examining advanced material-to-material molecular recycling found that recognizing these technologies alongside mechanical recycling could help reduce compliance costs, expand recyclability and preserve access to affordable consumer products.
The study found advanced recycling technologies can process harder-to-recycle plastics that traditional systems struggle to handle today, allowing more packaging to qualify as recyclable in practice while still supporting ambitious environmental goals.
Importantly, the research concluded that incorporating advanced recycling into recycling systems could help avoid unnecessary cost pass-throughs to consumers and reduce pressure to eliminate commonly used packaging formats that help keep products affordable and available.
This should not be a partisan issue. New Yorkers care about the environment. They also care about whether they can afford groceries. Those goals do not have to conflict. Albany can improve recycling outcomes without forcing consumers to absorb avoidable price increases.
But that requires lawmakers to slow down and make targeted amendments before passing PRRIA. The lesson from the climate debate is straightforward: policymakers should not knowingly impose financial pain on New Yorkers when practical alternatives exist. Albany still has time to get this right.
Mike Durant is President and Chief Executive Officer at the Food Industry Alliance of New York State, a statewide trade association dedicated to promoting sustainability and growth of the retail food community and its supplier network.
