Research on Plastic Bag Legislation, Dr. Megan Styles

This past summer, ENS Chair Dr. Megan Styles and PA faculty member Dr. Junfeng Wang, conducted research on the adoption of plastic bag legislation in Illinois communities. They interviewed city officials and community leaders in the five IL municipalities that have adopted plastic bag laws (e.g. bans or fees designed to deter the use of these bags) to understand why these communities adopted these laws and their experiences with implementation. Drs. Styles and Wang found that these laws have successfully reduced plastic bag use and municipalities have not faced many issues with implementation. This research has now been published in the December 2020 issue of the ILLINOIS MUNICIPAL POLICY JOURNAL. Read the peer-reviewed article here, beginning on page 91.