Quinn rejects plastic bag recycling bill

CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed a bill Sunday that would have required plastic bag manufacturers to set up collection and recycling programs, calling it a "roadblock" for local communities to make their own choices.

The proposed law says manufacturers must set up recycling programs with the goal of increasing the recycling rate by 12 percent by 2015 and to eventually make bags from at least 30 percent recycled content. It also would have required manufacturers to register with Illinois officials, as retail stores would have been able to use bags only from registered manufacturers. And local municipalities would have been prohibited from enacting their own plastic bag laws, including bans.

Environmentalists, including a young teenager who led a petition drive against it, did not support the bill. They claimed that the goals set by the law were minimal and that local communities could do more by passing their own laws. Plastic bag manufacturers and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association supported the bill.

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