Suburban pilot program basis of proposed statewide plastic recycling

SPRINGFIELD — All those plastic shopping bags you get at the grocery store either go to landfills, blow away in the wind or end up at recycling plants, and Illinois lawmakers are using a suburban recycling program to push for a similar one statewide.

But even supporters said a proposal for statewide bag recycling, before it can expect to be passed by the General Assembly, needs to address concerns about the state interfering with established local recycling programs and whether plastic bag use should be encouraged at all.

The proposal, sponsored by Crystal Lake Republican Rep. Mike Tryon, would create a statewide standard for how plastic bags and other similar plastics are recycled. The proposal for the statewide idea is influenced by a pilot program run through the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County.

Under Tryon's proposal, plastic bag manufacturers would have to register with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency by paying a $500 annual fee. Within two years of the law being implemented, Illinois retailers would have to use plastic bags from those registered manufacturers. One year after that, the bags would have to be made of 30 percent recycled materials.

Plastic bags would not be banned, as they are in countries including China and Ireland and in some U.S. cities like San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas.

Kip Kolkmeier, who represents the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, said the statewide proposal has been a long time coming.

“We really feel we're doing this the right way,” he said.

Lake County's pilot program ran for several months in 2009, when about 80 local retailers — including national chains Walgreens and Piggly Wiggly — agreed to collect plastic bags from customers and earn some cash through selling the plastic for recycling, waste agency Executive Director Walter Willis said.

“The stores were very receptive to collecting their stuff,” Willis said. “We can bring more stores on if they know they can sell the materials.”

Tryon said the statewide plan has come together through the work of those in the plastic manufacturing and recycling industries, along with retailers.

“When we have the industries step forward and try to do something on a statewide basis ... it's a good thing,” he said.

About 2.5 percent of disposable plastic bags and plastic film are recycled, a percentage Willis believes can improve if the proposal is put in place.

“We're bringing the manufacturers and the retailers together on this,” Wallace said. “We have willingness on the part of the manufacturers and retailers to create a more robust collection program across the state.”

While the plan has the support of major groups like the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association and Hilex Poly (the largest plastic bag manufacturer and recycler in the United States), critics expressed concern it could interfere with recycling programs already established by municipalities as well as encourage the use of plastic bags and film.

“This program will lock our state in a process of manufacturing and using plastic bags instead of just trying to reduce their use,” said Max Muller, program director of an advocacy group Environment Illinois.

While customers are not required to recycle under the plan, Willis believes retailers would do more to help educate them on what can be recycled and where customers can take plastic materials to be recycled.

For retailers like Dino's Finer Foods in Hanover Park, a statewide plan would help keep retailer costs of recycling equitable.

“It puts a burden on all the retailers if each village makes its own ruling on the program,” said store Manager Elvio Mazzei.

The program would evaluate plastic bag and wrapper recycling rates. It would expire four years after its implementation unless the General Assembly renewed it.

The bill also would bar local governments except Chicago and Cook County from banning or taxing plastic bags and wrappers.

The Senate approved the proposal in March, and the House's Environmental Health Committee approved the plan last week by a 12-5 vote. The bill now will go to the full House for further debate. However, committee members said they want questions addressed before that happens.