Springfield, IL. – Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation to reduce plastic pollution in Illinois today. The Large Event Facilities Act (SB2876) requires large event facilities with legal occupancies of at least 3,500 people to provide attendees with recycling and composting bins, reducing single-use plastic and food scrap waste.
“IEC is grateful to Gov. Pritzker, Sen. Karina Villa, and especially Rep. Curtis Tarver for their leadership in bringing Illinois another step further in our collective journey toward making Illinois more responsible and efficient when it comes to waste management,” said Jen Walling, executive director at the Illinois Environmental Council. “Illinois has a long history of championing recycling and composting programs, but we still have a long way to go. Our state generates approximately 19 million tons of garbage a year, which is 23 percent more waste per capita than the average state in the U.S. Sadly, only 37 percent of this waste material is ever recycled. This new law will help us make much-needed progress in reducing plastic pollution and climate warming methane emissions.”
The new law will send more single-use plastics into the recycling stream, keeping them away from landfills, waterways, and public access corridors, like shared sidewalks and parks. Plastics never fully disintegrate. Instead, they break down into toxic microplastic particles that litter our streets, pollute our parks, poison our bodies, and escape into our rivers and oceans at a rate of 8 million tons a year. More than 22 million pounds of plastic trash end up in the Great Lakes annually, with half of that in Lake Michigan alone.
“The idea to work with the Illinois Environmental Council on a bill addressing the lack of recycling and composting opportunities at large-scale events came to me one day at a White Sox game,” said Rep. Tarver. “I couldn’t believe that there weren’t recycling bins anywhere nearby, given the amount of plastic and other waste generated at an event of that size.”
Illinois lags behind other states in removing food scrap from our waste stream. Estimates of the state’s waste stream indicate that nearly 20 percent is organic and 23 percent is food scrap; only 13 percent and 1 percent of these materials, respectively, are diverted from landfills into composting. When those materials sit in one of Illinois’ 42 landfills, they are converted into methane gas, a climate-warming emission that leaks into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change. Illinois ranks 8th in total landfill methane gas emissions nationally.
Stephanie Katsaros of Bright Beat said, “Big events are big opportunities to maximize positive social impact and foster consciousness in the community while minimizing environmental impact. When advocacy brings policy change in line with that opportunity, we can make progress toward a healthier and more sustainable future at scale.”
The Large Event Facilities Act applies only to permanent structures, such as convention centers and sports stadiums, where large crowds gather for events that produce significant amounts of waste. The bill signed included enforcement penalties where a first violation can result in a minimum fine of $750 and a maximum fine of $1,500. Subsequent violations can result in a minimum fine of $1,500 and a maximum of $2,500.
“Policies like these are such a great example of how environmentally-friendly decisions are often also economically beneficial decisions,” said Sen. Villa. “For instance, Illinois is already home to 110,000 recycling jobs. By embracing more recycling opportunities, as we do in this legislation, we can see recycling create up to ten times the jobs in landfilling, and composting can create up to four times as many jobs.”
With Gov. Prtizker’s signature, the new law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
###