Senator Harckham is the Environmental Chair at the Assembly & they are working on 2 bills to reduce single use plastic.
Ellyanne was introduced to Secretary Hillary Clinton and they had brief conversations about the plastic pollution rally we had in Albany and some activities she is working on in school to reduce single-use plastic.
Ellyanne has been involved with The Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act that was passed in the New York Senate 29th May 2025. In brief the implications are:
- USD 1.3B taxpayers savings on disposal costs
- Reduce plastic pollution in our communities & environment
- Safeguard health from toxic chemicals
The bill aims to cut plastic pollution by 20% over 12 years, all plastic and other packaging must be at least 70% recyclable, ban 17 of the most toxic chemicals like PFAs, the so called “chemical recycling” will no longer be considered as real recycling, most importantly the bill puts a small fee to be paid by companies and revenue to go to local governments.

Prior to the trip to Albany to influence lawmakers were several meetings in churches, within the communities, planning, local county engagement.
In the photos you can see Ellyanne speaking at Capitol HIl earlier in May. The only young person invited as a speaker. Meeting and interviewing various law makers, Senator Pete Harckham, the Chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee, Senator Luis Sepulveda, team of Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins, and other policy makers.





