Brian Laird on WNYC, now we'll observe Earth Day.

And again, happy Earth Day, everybody, by inviting you to participate with us in an Earth Week experiment

and talking with former EPA official

Judith Ang who has devoted her post-government career to activism to reduce the amount of plastic

we all consume and to point out its facts. Today, for example, she's testifying before the state

legislature in Trenton to talk about some New Jersey initiatives.

We'll get into those.

Another news hook to this last Thursday on the New York side, the New York City Council passed a resolution calling on the state legislature to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act.

That bill aims to reduce plastic packaging by 50% over the course of 12 years.

And after those 12 years, all plastics and other recyclables must be made to be at least 70% recyclable.

And some of the costs of that, as far as the bill puts it, would be offset by the companies that make plastic packaging themselves.

I also see the New York State Legislature is considering a ban on individually wrapped cheese slices.

How about that one?

Joining us now to break down these bills, why City Council is challenging the state legislature

to reduce the state's plastic consumption and to help us introduce our own second Brian Lerishow

Plastics Challenge. We did one five years ago with Judithank and we're going to get her take

on how much has changed structurally in those five years,

but we're going to do the same thing again in 2024 because not enough has changed.

We'll explain.

Judithank is founder of Beyond Plastics, an initiative that works on plastic pollution issues.

She's also a professor at Bennington College and former EPA

Region 2 administrator, meaning she ran the Federal Environmental Protection Agency for the New York

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