Aspire to Zero

Beyond Plastics Press Conference:
🗽🙅🏽‍♀️=🗑️ NY is NOT Disposable

New York City Sanitation Commissioner Gregory Anderson and advocates hold a news conference at Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport, along the East River where barges haul away city trash. The group will urge the New York state legislature to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act ( - S1464A Harckham/A1749A Glick).


Since the closure of the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island in 2001, city taxpayers have spent billions of dollars exporting waste outside the city. Last year, taxpayers spent approximately half a billion dollars trucking New York City waste to in the Finger Lakes; a trash incinerator in an community in Newark, New Jersey; and to other states. 30% of this waste is single-use . But by reducing the amount of waste and requiring large companies — rather than taxpayers — to be financially responsible for waste disposal, this one bill will save New York City taxpayers $380 million every year.

We had some heavy hitters speak at our press conference today: Judith Enck (Founder of Beyond Plastics, former EPA Regional Administrator, and my dear friend), Gregory Anderson (DSNY Commissioner), Harvey Epstein (City Council Member and former Assembly Member that fought hard for PRRIA), Assembly Member Grace Lee, State Senator Brian Kavanaugh, NYC Council Sanitation Chair Justin Sanchez, NAACP NYS ED Chris Alexander, and NRDC NYC Senior Attorney Eric Goldstein. 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽

What a day. What a way to spend time and meet with friend, new and old, young and wise!! ITS GO TIME!!! LETS DO THIS ⚡️⚡️⚡️

Don’t mess with QUEENS 👸🏽👸🏽👸🏽👸🏽
After an all out assault on any meaningful environmental action from Governor Hochul these past few weeks, it felt amazing to have the energy, tenacity, and passion of and the beautiful coalition they have built fighting for your kids and mine to save them from completely unnecessary exposures to microplastics and chemicals in plastics that leach into our foods and beverages by targeting the obvious culprit—packaging.
🤯 Since HALF of all plastics ever made were made in the last 20 years, kids are getting higher exposures than their parents or grandparents ever got and we don’t want to wait and find out what that means for their future health, especially as doctors and scientists are ringing alarm bells about what available research is indicating 😱😱☠️☠️ (If you want to learn about this, please watch The Plastic Detox on Netflix ) 🎞️🍿
Today in Albany, we talked about an amended bill, the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464a/A1749a), that hopefully more legislators can get loudly behind! Many thanks to many Queens legislators that are supporting the bill such as .james.sanders Catalina Cruz Toni Ann Stavisky 🙌🏽🏆👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽💪🏽🫶🏽
We truly hope the other Queens lawmakers join the cool club 😎: Vivian Cook 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽👶🏻👧🏽👦🏿

please understand how much we mourn the concessions made but that we are willing to work with all parties to get something meaningful across the finish line! Given how much the Governor has stolen from the future, this could be a very meaningful place for change and it rests in your hands!! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Pumped to discuss the learnings in the important Netflix docu “The Plastic Detox” with young Dems here in NYC! Come if you’re in town :)

Climate Reality March Chapter Meeting - Wed, March 18, 6:30pm, Zoom: Plastics: No Escape. This month, Rachana Shah from Beyond Plastics Queens will teach us how plastics went from a climate issue to a public health crisis and how you can limit your exposure to plastic pollution.
RSVP: https://bit.ly/PlasticsNoEscape

Beyond the resource benefits of REUSE (both environmental and financial), the biggest benefit I see firsthand is increasing MEANING in our lives. This comes from giving/donating items that still have value, but also from accepting and using those items. I still come across lots of people that have built up an aversion to used items, and I feel sadness about this. One, because it feeds the narrative that only new things have value, but moreso because it robs them of this opportunity for added meaning in their lives. Meaning helps increase our sense of self and of community.

Parents have a big role to play and explaining to children that wearing something that was pre-owned is making a direct action to fight climate change. There are currently enough clothes on the planet to clothe the next 6 generations! It takes so much energy and water to create new clothes and new single used disposable items. Let’s embrace reuse while it’s still a choice!

Speaking tonight at the 2026 Plastics Learning Series put together by esteemed orgs Missouri River Bird Observatory and about the Environmental Injustice of Plastics.
Sorry for the short notice! Register at https://bit.ly/PlasticWebinars2026

When they say one of the best actions you can take to fight systemic injustice is to find something you’re passionate about and join a local group trying to make an impact, I’m here to tell you that that has brought so much joy to my life!! These baddies from Queens and all the other rockstars in Albany yday GIVE ME LIFE!!!! We are all bound and bonded by our refusal to let the world be shaped by corrupt forces drunk with power. Remembering that ✨sacred✨ and ✨sacrifice✨ have the same root word, these ladies and gentlemen sacrifice their time, energy, attention, and comfort to do what’s right, and for that I have the utmost respect 🙏🏽 Thank you for the renewable, undying inspiration ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ Pass the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act (S1464/A1749) !!!!!!! New Yorkers, DM me or go to www.beyondplastics.org to help! We need all hands on deck!!!! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽

From - Recent public pronouncements have proclaimed a “new” energy vision for New York, but what has been presented is nothing more than a myopic view of the future. An “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, for example, is nothing more than an embrace of continued reliance on burning fossil fuels (in clear violation of New York’s widely respected Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or “Climate Law”) and promotion of the most expensive way to generate electricity — nuclear reactors.

Instead, New York should return to policies that make sense economically and are feasible in both the short term and the long term, emphasizing affordability while acting within the scientific consensus on climate. Implementing the Climate Law accordingly will save money- and save lives. Social media post and fact sheet attached.

Please begin call-ins to the Governor to ensure proper implementation of the Climate Law. 518-474-8390

“Hello, my name is __________ and my zipcode is _______. I am calling to urge the Governor to address the destructive practices of the fossil fuel industry that continue to make our energy bills skyrocket and harm our communities and public health by following the timelines and benchmarks set out in the Climate Law. Implementing the Climate Law accordingly will save money and save lives. Thank you!”