Kane County Reporter

The city council of Batavia voted on an ordinance concerning single-use bags.

"And I think too, that the money that is generated by the ten cents a bag fee is going to pay for a part of the education on it," Alan Wolff of the Batavia City Council said. "And if we were to decide a year or two from now that we had money in that fund, and we wanted to use it to try and incentivize businesses to do it we could use that money."

The city council voted on a new city ordinance that would impose a fee on single-use bags in retailers. This would not include bags used inside of stores or businesses like restaurants to-go or bags used to pick up vegetables. The fee would be a 10 cents per bag fee on businesses greater than 5000 square feet. 

The council received many comments from residents. Some were upset about the proposed ordinance and the administrative difficulties that it will cause for businesses and consumers. Others questioned how much this could actually change as this ordinance will only affect 17 businesses in the city, and were upset that it impacts more local businesses than fast food chains. 

The council discussed how they were going to measure the success of the program, hopefully by seeing a reduction in the fees that point to less usage of single-use bags in the city. They want to use this as part of their increased education efforts to inform residents on how to live in a more environmentally friendly way and further green efforts in the city of Batavia. The council did vote to accept the ordinance.