The city of Chicago is the latest US municipality to implement a ban on plastic bags, following a 36-10 vote by the City Council in late April. The decree, which treats retailers differently according to their size, is to be implemented incrementally, with stores comprising about 930 m^² in size expected to comply by August 2015, while smaller establishments have another year to adapt. Restaurants and independent stores less than 930 m^² in size will be exempt from the ban. Violators are to be slapped with fines ranging from USD 300-500.

Supporters of the bill, which was backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, estimate that the city’s residents use some 3.7m plastic bags every day, of which about 3-5% end up as litter in the environment, local media report.

The ban has met with criticism from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (Chicago, Illinois; http://irma.org), which local media say argues that with so many exemptions, the environmental impact of the ban will be small, whereas it will constitute a burden for both affected retailers and consumers. The American Progressive Bag Alliance (Washington DC; http://plasticsindustry.org) also expressed criticism of the ordinance, saying it will not reduce litter but threaten the jobs of thousands of workers in the state who are engaged in bag production.

SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association (Washington DC / USA; www.plasticsindustry.org) also criticised the ban, saying, “The proposal to ban plastic shopping bags in Chicago is an ill-conceived job killer that will become a costly burden to families across the city. Paper bags, the plastic bag substitute, are an expensive option that will trickle down to the consumer through increased costs for groceries and other products.” A much better option, SPI president and CEO William Carteaux said, was to “reduce, reuse and recycle”.

In mid-2012, Los Angeles joined a group of 47 other California cities in imposing a ban on single-use plastic bags – for details, see Plasteurope.com of 05.06.2012.