On April 10, Illinois State Sen. Laura Fine led the state’s Senate in passing legislation that would phase out small, single-use plastic bottles in hotels across Illinois. The bill, Senate Bill 2960, creates the Small Single-Use Plastic Bottle Act, which would require hotels with 50 or more rooms to eliminate these materials for personal care products in guest rooms and public bathrooms beginning July 1, 2025. The legislation would go into effect for all hotels with fewer than 50 rooms beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
“According to researchers, by 2050, plastic could outweigh all fish in the oceans,” says Fine, in a prepared statement. “Personal products available in plastic bottles are common in hotels and pose immediate risk to our environment once they are thrown away. This bill puts our state on the path to being part of a solution by reducing plastic pollution.”
This bill is not the only of Fine’s legislative work to confront pollution from single-use plastics—last year, she passed a law requiring state agencies to track their own purchases of food items in single-use plastic disposable packaging and establish goals for reducing their use.
“This bill reflects a partnership between the hotel industry and environmental groups,” she continues. “This legislation has the potential to drastically reduce plastic waste in Illinois. We need to take the steps that we can now to prevent our state from adding to the rise in plastic pollution nationwide and help people be more mindful of the daily waste attributed to single-use plastic.”
According to Plastic Oceans International—a global nonprofit working to end plastic pollution—of the more than 380 million tons of plastic produced each year, up to 50% is for single-use purposes. This Illinois bill will now move on to the House for additional consideration.
