Governor Hochul Signs Bill Banning Hotels from Providing Personal Care Products in Toxic, Single-Use Plastic Mini-Bottles
New York Environmental Leaders Praise Law Banning Use of Minibottles for Hotels to Provide Personal Care Products
ELIMINATES PLASTIC WASTE BEGINNING IN 2023, IMPOSES PENALTIES FOR VIOLATORS
ALBANY, N.Y. , December 23, 2021 - - Advocates in the JustGreen Partnership today applauded New York Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders for signing a new law that will prohibit hotels from providing mini single-use bottles of personal care products. These small containers, commonplace in the hospitality and other industries, rely on fossil fuel extraction and harmful chemicals for their production, and generate hundreds of tons of plastic waste annually.
The new law (Ch. 734 Laws of 2021), will take effect in 2023 to allow hoteliers and other businesses to implement alternative means of providing personal care products, such as refillable dispensers, which are already increasingly common.
“Hotel mini-bottles are an unnecessary part of our fossil fuel habit - we don’t need the harm their production does in frontline communities, the toxic chemicals used to make the plastic, the wasted product that’s thrown away, or the plastic waste that ends up in landfills, oceans, or further contributes to the climate crisis through incineration. And we don’t need these containers to have personal care products at hotels: many hotels have already implemented alternative approaches, like refillable dispensers,” said Bobbi Wilding, Executive Director of Clean and Healthy New York, the state’s leading environmental health organization. “Governor Hochul, Senator Kaminsky, and Assemblymember Englebright: thank you for protecting our health and the planet by cutting this source of plastic pollution from our state.”
Sponsored by Assemblymember Steven Englebright (D-Suffolk) and Senator Todd Kaminsky (D-Nassau), bans these small bottles is considered an important way of reducing harmful single-use plastics that often clog sewer drains, cause flooding and wind up in our waterways as litter.
In 2019, similar legislation became law in California. Businesses there had little problem in adapting and installing dispensers in their showers and bathrooms.
“New York now has the opportunity to be a leader on the East Coast in reducing toxic and plastics from our solid waste stream,” said Sonal Jessel, Policy Director of WEACT for Environmental Justice and co-leader of the Just Green Partnership. “This new law will reduce litter, keep our communities cleaner and make us less prone to flooding caused by sewers and grates clogged with plastics.”
“We are thrilled that New York State is once again a leader in the fight against plastic pollution. Single-use plastics, including the individual bottles of shampoo, lotion, and other products provided by the hotel industry, contribute to our global plastic pollution crisis and locally end up as microplastics in our bays, lakes, estuaries, rivers, and oceans,” ” said Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “There is no reason to continue using fossil fuels to manufacture these products and no justification for having millions of these bottles end up in landfills or waterways each year. CCE applauds Governor Hochul for signing this important bill into law and thanks our legislative champions, Senator Kaminsky and Assemblyman Englebright, for your continued work to phase out polluting single-use plastics in NY.”
“While the United States falls further behind in plastic bottle recycling, this bill addresses that recycling problem from the demand side,” said Bob Rossi, Executive Director of the New York Sustainable Business Council (NYSBC). “To reduce waste, many responsible hotel managers have already stopped providing toiletries in plastic mini-bottles. By prohibiting these mini-bottles in NY hotels altogether, this bill significantly decreases demand for this wasteful product. We thank Governor Hochul for taking this important step toward building a strong circular economy.”
“This new law, coupled with action already taken in California, provides a one-two punch that is likely to become national corporate practice. It’s a great example of how progressive policies in states with large economies and populations can become the norm nationwide, thereby greatly increasing their impact in protecting our health and environment,” said Kathleen Curtis, founder of Moms for a Nontoxic New York.
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