Environmental Defenders of McHenry County Executive Director Discusses Woodstock IL Plastic Bag Fee Ordinance

* * * SPECIAL EDITION PODCAST * * *
The proposed Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance appears to be picking up steam in Elgin , Illinois. 

• Two members of the city council contacted Tia & Erik after The Elgin Watchman launched its anonymous straw poll of those elected officials. Both agreed to interviews!
• The executive director of the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County (aka the person who wrote the Single Use Plastic Bag Ordinance for Woodstock, IL) agreed to an interview.
• A city staff person from a different municipality -- who wanted to remain anonymous -- agreed to speak with The Elgin Watchman podcast about his experience with implementation of a reusable shopping bag program that he helped implement.

We have published one podcast per day for the last four days leading up to tomorrow's (August 9th) 6:00 pm Elgin Sustainability Commission meeting at the Centre of Elgin in downtown Elgin inside the ballroom (or possibly one of the conference rooms next to the ballroom). Why? Because rumor has it that the commission will be taking a vote on whether to recommend the city council consider this proposed ordinance, which the commission has been working on for the last four years.

Today's podcast features an interview with the executive director of the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County -- Cynthia Kanner.  She and the defenders were instrumental in pushing for adoption of Woodstock's Single Use Plastic Bag Fee ordinance and helped with the implementation of the village's reusable shopping bag program.  She shares her experiences and lessons learned. We also attempt to apply some of those things to what Elgin is trying to do in this area.

(Note: On Friday, The Elgin Watchman published an interview with councilwoman Tish Powell. Saturday's special edition podcast featured an interview with city councilman Corey Dixon. Sunday's special edition podcast featured an interview with a former government employee, who wished to remain anonymous, talking about implementation of a municipal reusable bag program. CLICK HEREfor Tish Powell, and CLICK HERE for Corey Dixon. CLICK HERE for Mr. Anonymous.)

A special THANK YOU to Cynthia for agreeing to come on the podcast to discuss what went into a different municipality's efforts to do what the Sustainability Commission is proposing for Elgin, IL.   We hope you enjoy this level of transparency and share this podcast with friends and family who you think will enjoy it, too.

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