The city of Elgin is exploring ways to reduce single-use items in our community. The Elgin Sustainability Commission has recommended that City Council consider adopting an ordinance that would ban the distribution of single-use plastic checkout bags and place a fee on paper bags.
Before any decisions are made, city staff are seeking input from residents and businesses. Your feedback will help guide the City Council’s next steps.
The draft ordinance would:
- Ban the distribution of single-use plastic checkout bags at retail establishments over 5,000 square feet.
- Require a minimum fee of 10¢ per paper bag provided at checkout.
- Ensure all paper checkout bags contain at least 40% post-consumer recycled content.
- Retailers: Applies to all stores over 5,000 sq. ft.
- Exemptions: Restaurants, small non-chain retailers, and pop-up shops.
- Customers: Applies to all retail customers.
- Exemptions: SNAP, WIC, and similar food assistance program recipients would be fee exempt.
- Banned: Single-use plastic checkout bags.
- Allowed with fee: Paper bags (made with at least 40% recycled content).
- Allowed without fee: Bags brought by customers.
- Other exempt bags would include:
- Bags for bulk items, frozen foods, flowers/damp items, bakery goods, greeting cards, or prescription drugs.
- Bags sold in multi-packs, garment/laundry/newspaper bags, door-hanger bags.
- Bags used for online/delivery orders, or with permanently affixed liners.
- Fee: 10¢ per paper bag, retained by the retailer.
- Restrictions: Retailers would not be allowed to rebate or reimburse the fee.
- Exemptions: Customers using SNAP, WIC, or similar food assistance programs would not be charged.
- Signage: Retailers would be required to display signs alerting customers to the plastic bag ban and paper bag fee.
- Compliance: Retailers that do not comply with the ordinance would be subject to fines.
- Recordkeeping: Retailers would be required to keep accurate records of paper bag fees collected.
Impacts of Single-Use Bags include:
- Overproduction: Plastic production has more than doubled in the last two decades. Plastic shopping bags rank among the most used single-use plastic items globally.
- Recycling limitations: Only about 9% of plastics are recycled worldwide. Most end up in landfills, incinerators, or as litter.
- Pollution: Littered bags block storm drains, harm wildlife, and break down into tiny pieces called microplastics. Microplastics stay in the environment for centuries and contaminate our soil, waterways and air.
- Climate impact: Plastics are made from fossil fuels. If current trends continue, plastics could account for 20% of global oil use by 2050.
While paper bags decompose more easily than plastic, they still carry a significant environmental footprint:
- Production: Requires cutting down trees and consumes large amounts of water and energy.
- Emissions: Manufacturing and transporting paper bags generates greenhouse gas emissions.
- Single-use design: Like plastic, most paper bags are used only once—quickly wasting the resources required to produce them.
Both plastic and paper bags have environmental, health, and societal costs. By reducing reliance on single-use bags and encouraging reusable options, we can conserve resources, cut pollution, and build more sustainable habits in Elgin.
Sources:
Our World in Data - Plastic Pollution
Geneva Environment Network - Plastic Production and Industry
UNEP Life Cycle Approach - Addressing Single-Use Plastic Products Pollution
