Lawmakers debate bill that would prohibit staple takeout container: 'They don't degrade naturally'

Illinois lawmakers are considering expanding a ban on Styrofoam in a bid to prevent continued contamination at popular recreation sites like Lake Michigan.

KWQC-TV reported that the state Senate had passed a bill prohibiting the sale or distribution of polystyrene foam or Styrofoam food containers and kicked it back to the House for further review. As of June 1, the House had rereferred the bill, SB1531, to the Rules Committee.

A number of policymakers and residents lauded SB1531 as a necessary step with long-term financial and environmental benefits after Illinois banned state agencies and universities from buying or using Styrofoam in 2023. That law went into effect in 2025.

"If we're going to preserve our landfill and stretch it out for as long as possible, we need to reduce the waste that we put into that landfill," said Brad Roos, president of the nonprofit Sustain Rockford. "When that landfill is full, our cost for waste pick up is going to be way higher because it's going to have to go be trucked somewhere far away."

As a plastic-based material, Styrofoam can take up to 500 years to break down, lingering not only in landfills but also in communities as unregulated, toxic litter.

"You see these containers in clean-ups across the state in waterways, in lakes, and beaches across Lake Michigan," added state Sen. Steve Stadelman. "They don't degrade naturally."

Protecting the integrity of Lake Michigan is important because it is part of the Great Lakes system that contains more than 20% of freshwater globally and provides jobs for nearly 26 million people. The Great Lakes support $1.3 trillion in wages and generate $3.1 trillion in gross domestic product for the U.S., per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office for Coastal Management.

While not part of the Great Lakes Region, Washington and Oregon are among the 11 U.S. states that have already moved to ban or limit Styrofoam food products.

However, SB1531 also drew bipartisan opposition, as KWQC-TV reported. State Sen. Dave Syverson argued that the bill would be burdensome for restaurants that rely on the cheap, heat-retaining material and create an economic hit to industries invested in Styrofoam.

Syverson said the Restaurant Association, Illinois Manufacturers' Association, and the Licensed Beverage Association are among the entities pushing back against the bill.

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"It impacts jobs, it impacts the cost of food, it affects restaurants," he argued. "We're going to allow this product to be used for shipping food, and for shipping medicine, and for going fishing. So, we can use it for that, but you just can't use it for a carry-out."

If passed and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker, SB1531 would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2030. Many consumers already bring their own reusable takeout containers from home to reduce waste and exposure to harmful chemicals found in plastics, but that should also give restaurants enough of a grace period to phase out Styrofoam in a cost-effective manner.

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