Proposals aim to ban disposable products in Illinois businesses and
schools
[March 17, 2025]
By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – Two measures, awaiting advancement, seek to outlaw
plastics, foam and disposable products from Illinois businesses and
schools.
The National Federation of Independent Business is opposing a proposed
amendment to the Solid Waste Planning and Recycling Act that would ban
the use of single-use plastic and paper carryout bags by stores and food
service businesses.
Noah Finley, NFIB Illinois state director, said if enacted, the bill is
going to add another cost on low-income consumers, who are already
struggling with high grocery prices and inflation.
“What hurts the customer is rarely good for the business. Another thing
to keep in mind here is that many small retailers are up against giant
corporate competitors,” Finley said. “These big corporate competitors
can do home delivery services. If we make it hard for customers to go
get their groceries and bring it home, it is going to push them more
towards these corporate delivery services and away from our hometown
mom-and-pop grocery stores that have been serving these customers for
decades.”
House Bill 1146 is sitting in the House Executive Committee and is
sponsored by state Rep. Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake.
Finley said the bill reduces choice for consumers.
“It reduces choice for small business owners. We have a one size fits
all mandate applied across the board. Maybe it makes sense [for a
business] to use plastic bags or maybe it makes sense to use paper
bags,” said Finely. “It is reducing the small business owners ability to
best serve their customers. This is going to increase costs for
consumers who are already struggling with high cost of living and
inflation.”
The bill suggests businesses switch to nylon, cloth, a hemp product, or
another machine-washable fabric bag.
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By Carleen Johnson | The Center Square
Separately, House Bill 1087 from state Rep. Terra Costa Howard,
D-Glen Ellyn, seeks to prohibit school districts from using
disposable food containers made from polystyrene foam and must
instead provide compostable or recyclable foodware.
State Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, said Costa Howard also
introduced House Bill 2827, which would create oversight
requirements on Illinois homeschooling. Miller suggested homeschool
families’ carbon footprint is practically “zero,” and the
homeschooling model is more “environmentally-friendly” than the
public school model.
“This is just another case of an unfunded mandate brought to you by
the radical Democrats that are there in the process of destroying
education, and it's nothing but a red herring trotting out an issue
to get our eyes off the real issue, which is that public school is a
failure,” said Miller. “They're continuing to attack private and
homeschoolers while less than 30% of their kids can read and write
and do math at grade level.”
Costa Howard’s Homeschool Act is to be heard by members of the
Appropriations-Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. Miller
said a lot of Illinois schools are already asking for some kind of
tax increase and Costa Howard’s disposable food container
prohibition will require districts to spend more money on
compostable, recyclable or reusable foodware.
“This would just be another burden that they're placing upon the
Illinois citizens,” said Miller. |
