Vicki Abu-Ghallous urges banning all single-use cups and promoting reuse

We will now go to Vicky Abdu-Galium and Ms.

And ma'am, I apologize if I've mispronounced your name.

You have three minutes if you'd like to testify, starting now.

Thank you so much.

Chair Ressler, members of the Committee on Contracts, my name is Vicki Abugallium, and I'm delivering my testimony today on behalf of the Story of Stuff Project and as a member organization of the Reusable New York City Coalition.

The story of stuff, as my colleague shared, is a nonprofit organization advocating for solutions to the plastic waste crisis.

And one of our main focus areas for addressing the plastic waste crisis is through reuse as a solution to plastic pollution.

As was already shared in other testimony, we know we're drowning in disposables.

Each year, the U.S.

Food service industry purchases nearly 11 trillion disposable items, which equates to a $24 billion spend on products that are used for literal minutes and then thrown away.

In New York City alone, the cost of collecting garbage for disposal surpasses $1.7 billion annually, with $381 million of those dollars due to packaging waste, most of which is food packaging.

So we're really excited to see the council considering a bill that aims to reduce plastic pollution generated by agencies through banning single-use plastic cups.

But I echo the concerns of the others providing testimony with Intro 896 has a major flaw.

Allowing single-use compostable cups.

for the same reasons that were already stated.

And so I'll make the most use of my time by saying that I agree with the concerns shared by others on the toxicity of compostables and the inability of

our current systems to really even handle them and generate quality compost product.

And focus my testimony on reuse as a solution to that issue.

As a leading advocate in single-use plastic waste

pollution and reusable solutions, we are seeing municipalities all across the country struggle to source compostables and enforce a switch from plastic to bioplastic and so-called compostables.

So it's our position that if the goal is to reduce single-use disposables, why not ban all types of single-use cups?

In my written testimony that I submitted, I recommended some changes to the bill text.

Namely removing the language about compostables being acceptable, and then also

implementing language that encourages the use of reusable beverage bottles when possible and the implementation of accessible water bottle refill stations per 500 occupants.

Authorized under a building's maximum capacity.

And additional text changes that the council might consider that are regarding

reusable beverage cup reuse systems being implemented in agency offices, buildings, or indoor facilities, and on agency property, as well as prohibiting the distribution of beverages in disposable beverage cups on those properties.

Time expired.

Zero waste hierarchy.

Focuses on reduce and reuse.

Thank you for considering my testimony.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you for the thoughtful testimony and for providing feedback on the legislation that we will be sure to share with the bill sponsor, Councilmember Epstein.