(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.
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.
