On behalf of retailers serving Oak Park residents, we strongly oppose the village’s escalating single-use bag fee and planned 2030 plastic-bag ban [Oak Park ramps up fee for single-use bags leading to full ban in 2030, News, Sept. 2].
Retailers have long cautioned that bag fees are promoted as environmental policy but operate more reliably as government revenue sources. Oak Park has now confirmed that concern. The village’s 10-cent bag fee has been in place for eight years, generated more than $1.16 million since 2018, and, by the village’s own account, has not reduced bag use.
That is not a success story. It is an admission that the policy has failed at its stated purpose while costing consumers and families more money at the check-out counter.
Rather than reconsider a fee that has not changed behavior, the village plans to raise it to 15 cents in 2027, 20 cents in 2028, and 25 cents in 2029, followed by a ban on single-use plastic carryout bags in 2030. When an eight-year experiment does not produce the promised result, the appropriate response is to examine the evidence — not raising prices for shoppers even further.
Village officials say the current fee generates roughly $170,000 annually. That may explain why an ineffective policy has become difficult to abandon. It may not be changing consumer habits, but it is producing revenue.
The village has described the planned increases as creating a greater annual “pain point” for shoppers. That description is revealing. Grocery, pharmacy, convenience, and other retail purchases are routine necessities, not luxuries. Yet the village’s answer to a policy failure is to make everyday transactions more inconvenient and expensive — particularly for residents making frequent trips, using public transportation, caring for family members, managing unpredictable schedules, or simply forgetting reusable bags.
The charge may be only a few cents per bag, but it is imposed at checkout every day on residents already dealing with high food and household costs. Trustee Cory Wesley reasonably questioned whether increasing the fee signals indifference to those pressures.
Oak Park should reconsider this escalation and the 2030 ban. The village should pursue environmental policies that can demonstrate measurable results rather than simply increasing everyday costs.
Alec Laird
On behalf of retailers serving Oak Park