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Tennessee bill making it illegal to regulate single-use waste delayed in House committee

Styrofoam cups, plastic bottles, bags and other debris makes certain sections along Chattanooga Creek nearly impassible for paddlers Wednesday, August 8, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The litter found floating in the creek can be attributed to a variety of things, including trash being tossed from a passing car, remnants from several nearby homeless camps, trash collected in the cityճ stormwater system landing the creek and storms pushing the litter into the creek. Styrofoam cups, plastic bottles, bags and other debris makes certain sections along Chattanooga Creek nearly impassible for paddlers Wednesday, August 8, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The litter found floating in the creek can be attributed to a variety of things, including trash being tossed from a passing car, remnants from several nearby homeless camps, trash collected in the cityճ stormwater system landing the creek and storms pushing the litter into the creek.

By Mark Pace March 13, 2019 4 min read

Susan Lynn

A committee vote on a Tennessee bill that would make it illegal for local municipalities to regulate single-use waste, among other items, was postponed until next week as legislators got hung up on an outlying concern from two lobbyists.

House Bill 1021 received support from several members of the House Consumer and Human Resources Committee but was delayed as legislators determined a vote shouldn’t take place until additional language could be added to ensure food trucks aren’t negatively impacted by the unrelated bill.

“‘Food trucks’ isn’t even in the bill. There’s no mention of food trucks,” bill sponsor Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mount Juliet, argued.

Two unnamed lobbyists voiced concern late Monday morning, about two hours before the committee was to vote on the bill, Lynn said.

The argument was that the bill – which would implement statewide standards for auxiliary devices such as bags, cups, bottles, straws, to-go boxes, delivery packaging and more – could hurt food trucks because they are containers that store food.