Highland Park looking at 15-cent bag tax, up from earlier proposal

City of Highland Park staff on Monday, Sept. 28, proposed establishing a 15-cent tax on the use of plastic and single-use bags as a precursor to an ban on such bags by 2030.

The proposal is a 50% increase on the 10-cent tax that Highland Park’s City Council reviewed on April 27, The Record previously reported. 

Single-use bags refer to any paper or plastic bag provided to a customer at the point of sale, pickup or delivery to carry purchased items. The term carryout single use bag includes compostable and biodegradable bags. 

Proposal

City staff recommended on Monday that 15 cents per single-use bag implementation begin on July 1, 2027. 

“We originally came up with 10 cents in April,” Assistant City Manager Erin Jason said. “Then the conversation became ‘Is that enough to change behavior?’ So, we looked at other communities like Oak Park, who made the decision to elevate their single-use bag tax to 15 cents next year, and go with that.” 

Highland Park City staff also recommended taxing single-use paper bags at 30 cents by 2030 and moving toward a full ban of single-use plastic bags by then.

Revenues generated from the program would go to the City’s sustainability fund. 

The bag-tax conversation begain with the Sustainability Advisory Group in 2023, and staff decided to “watch and see” the impact of Northbrook’s single-use bag tax program.

“We found that Northbrook has been very successful,” Jason said. “And they are seeing a good response since the rollout we discussed in April.” 

Staff completed preliminary research on the topic in the fall of 2025, then spoke to the Business and Economic Development Advisory Group in May, and SAG again in July. 

Surveys 

A survey of Highland Park community members on the proposed tax drew 373 respondents.

More than half (52.8%, or 194) of respondents opposed the tax, with 43.9% (or 161 respondents) in favor of the effort.

Those in favor of the program said their top motivators were environmental concerns, potential revenues for the City and businesses, and a decrease in litter.

While those opposed said they didn’t want to pay a fee, that they reused plastic bags in their own homes and they don’t believe plastic bags are problematic. 

Another separate survey sought feedback from 34 qualifying businesses (retailers with at least 3,000 square feet of space and other requirements); though, only four responded.

Out of the four respondents, three retailers were strongly opposed to a local ordinance, while one was somewhat opposed to a local ordinance. Jason made sure to note the small sample size.

Businesses were concerned about the number of new fees added to consumer transactions in recent years (statewide), about charging for paper bags and plastic, on the current state of operating business, and the time it may take for other busy employees to manage the program.   

In addition to conducting surveys, staff talked one-on-one with representatives from businesses that already have a bag policy in place in other communities and found that there were “no issues” with the rollouts , according to Jason. 

Jason said that those businesses report “minimal” consumer disruption and a number of them have already used reusable shopping bags as part of their branding. 

“Staff is sensitive to the concerns raised by businesses and residents; however we are still in support of advancing a reusable bag incentive policy based on feedback provided by the council, advisory groups, and narrative feedback from peers and businesses and communities where similar programs are operational,” Jason said. 

The City Council will share their feedback regarding this proposal at the next Committee of the Whole meeting on Oct. 13. 

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