Several Go Green members have been working with the Coalition for Plastic Reduction for the last four years to pass a polystyrene foam foodware ban for restaurants in Illinois. The current bill, SB 1531, has passed the Illinois Senate and is expected to be called for a vote in the Illinois House during the Illinois legislative veto session in November. We need help from the Go Green network to ensure that it passes!
There are two ways you can help: 1) legislator support and 2) restaurant support.
For the legislator support, Go Green leaders can ask their team and community members to contact their Illinois House Representative to ask them to support the bill. Here is a document with all the information how to find your legislator, see if they already support the bill or not, and what to say.
We are fortunate that many of the state reps who represent Go Green communities have already agreed to co sponsor or support the bill. In that case, we need to thank them, and also look for additional support within the community from restaurants.
We are also looking to collect stories from restaurants who do not use foam foodware. This is an excellent opportunity for leaders and community members to visit their favorite restaurants and say thank you for being sustainable, and ask if they would share a short statement that would be collected and included to show support throughout the state. Here is a template with instructions on what to say and how to collect stories.
If the bill doesn’t pass this session, it will die, and we will need to start all over again in January 2027. We are so close to getting the foam bill across the finish line. Illinois would be the only state in the Midwest with this ban, which could set the stage for similar bans in other states in our region.
Go Green groups are a powerful force with a strong voice, and hearing from that many individuals could make a real difference. It would be an incredible environmental win for the state that would be exciting for all of us to be a part of. Please join me this fall in asking our legislators to say farewell to foam – for good!
