Talkin' Single Use Bag Fee Ordinance With Batavia's Environmental Commission

Throughout all the coverage of the Elgin Sustainability Commission's . . .

• attempts to create a draft Single Use Bag Fee ordinance, and 
• recommend both city staff and city council take up the issue

. . . there was always someone on the commission (or city staff) saying something like this:

"What are other communities doing? How are they dealing with _________ as it pertains to a Single Use Bag Fee?"
     
This question came up often enough that Tia & Erik started wondering if anyone was going to do anything about it?
 
Truth be told, after hearing the same question for the umteenth time, Tia & Erik decided to take matters into their own hands. They tracked down a municipal worker (someone who would only speak anonymously on the record) who previously worked in a community that approved a similar ordinance . . . AND THEY INTERVIEWED HIM. Click Here To Listen To That Episode
 
Similarly, today's episode was inspired by the same frustrating questions.
 
Erik floated down the Fox River and found himself in Batavia, IL speaking with two members of that community's Environmental Commission and one of its city council members.
 
Batavia's Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance efforts started at about the same time as Elgin's -- four years ago. Similarly, they find themselves in the same place right now:

• both commissions did their due diligence
• both commissions have put their thoughts in writing regarding what an ordinance should looks like, and
• both commissions made a recommendation to their respective city staff and city councils, urging action by the end of 2022..

 It will be interesting to see which community "gets the football across the goal line first."
 
Who has more political clout and leverage . . . Elgin city councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger or Batavia city councilwoman Abby Beck?
 
Today's episode marks the podcast's first ever panel discussion. We hope you tune in because we thought is was a refreshing change of pace from what we've been pumping out lately. **Fingers Crossed** We hope you like it!

Keep yourself tuned in to this podcast for additional news on both Elgin's and Batavia's Single Use Bag Fee ordinances and further developments.

For more information about this and more, please visit our website, LIKE our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast using one of the many RSS Readers on our Buzzsprout podcast platform.