New York State Trying to Ban Plastic Bottles

New York State is setting up to sue Pepsi. The soft drink and snack giant is apparently going to be held responsible for some of their products, if New York State attorney general, Letitia James has her way.

The AG has said that pollution is a real issue and the mission is to make sure that our water, specifically in Buffalo, New York is clean. Her office picked up 2,000 pieces of trash that were along the Buffalo River and found that 340 of the pieces of garbage were apparently plastic Pepsi bottles.

There were levels in the water that were associated with microplastics from polymers of the type used by PepsiCo in their plastic bottles and caps. The lawsuit, which has not yet taken the next step, will require to put warning labels on plastic bottles:

Ms. James is seeking unspecified damages and demanding that the company provide a remedy for the contamination in the Buffalo region caused by its products and reduce the quantity of PepsiCo’s plastic packaging entering the river. Ms. James is also demanding that the company stop selling or distributing single-use plastic products in the Buffalo area that do not contain “adequate” warning labels", according to the New York Times.

As you can imagine, her press conference that happened on Wednesday in Buffalo drew a ton of criticism. People pointed out to her in person that if she was worried about the environment, that she probably took a private plane to the press conference, which gives off harmful fumes.

City of Buffalo Mayor also released a statement:

We’re the city of good neighbors,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said in a release. “We not only strive to be good to each other, but we want to be good to the environment around us. I thank Attorney General James for taking bold actions to protect our environment against threats. I also thank her for her partnership in my administration’s goal to create a greener and climate friendly city.”