Surfrider Foundation / Chicago Chapter CALL TO ACTION

OPPOSE IL SB 3442, the Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Act

As written, SB 3442, Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Act, mandates a very weak statewide plastic bag and film recycling program while at the same time preempting local home rule authority to develop and implement far more effective solutions, like bag bans or fees to reduce the volume of plastic waste. It also creates a costly and ineffective new program that Illinois can't afford when it is already cutting core services to Illinois residents due to very real fiscal limitations. Therefore, the Surfrider Foundation Chicago Chapter urges you to join our call to OPPOSE SB 3442. The Illinois legislature and governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, need to act decisively in favor of maintaining local government authority to develop and implement local waste reduction strategies associated with single-use plastics, including single-use plastic carry-out bags.

Importantly, there is abundant evidence indicating that the economics of plastic bag recycling simply don’t work – research indicates that it costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for a mere $32. To illustrate further, despite a 15-year effort to recycle plastic bags, less than five percent of all single-use plastic bags in California are actually recycled. Given the rigor of California’s programmatic approach and the tandem observation that many Californians are predisposed toward environmental action, Illinois’ lesser programmatic standards can not hope to cultivate outcomes any better than those realized through California’s program. If the economics do not work, recycling can not work. While recycling has a role in addressing the problems associated with single-use plastics, it is merely a back-up strategy to support those with greater effectiveness.

Local waste reduction strategies, including alternatives such as taxation and bans, are critical tools in addressing the well-documented and profoundly adverse impacts associated with the prevalence of single-use plastics in the human and natural environments. Local action is critical because it has been effective in addressing the problem. For example, Washington, D.C., was the first U.S. city to implement a 5-cent fee for all disposable bags and has already seen an 80% decrease in consumer use of use-and-toss bags. Similarly, Ireland’s PlastTax cut consumption by 94% within the first year.

It is noteworthy that not one state in the nation has incorporated into state statute a preemption of local government authority to implement effective measures, including taxes and bans, designed and intended to reduce the single-use plastics waste stream. Illinois should not be the first to make that mistake.

Illinois should not be the only state in the nation to ban local initiatives that have proven effective in reducing the volume of single-use plastic bag waste. The Surfrider Foundation Chicago Chapter urges your vigorous opposition to Illinois SB 3442.

For more information about the deleterious impacts of single-use plastics on the human and natural environments, please visit the Surfrider Foundation's Rise Above Plastic campaign.