Some retailers may be required to recycle bags

Chicago retailers who derive 25 percent of their gross sales from food or pharmaceuticals would be required to install plastic bag recycling bins — and distribute bags that state “Please reuse or recycle” — under a crackdown advanced Wednesday that aldermen called a “first step.”

If the New York-style ordinance doesn’t work to curb the flood of plastic bags stuck in trees, jamming landfills and waterways and choking birds and marine animals, Chicago could either broaden the mandate to more stores or ban plastic bags altogether, like San Francisco has done, aldermen said.

Read More »