ATHENS, Ohio — An attempt by the City of Athens to ban single-use plastic bags is officially dead.
Athens Law Director Lisa Eliason said in a statement to the media Tuesday, Aug. 5, that the city decided not to appeal a Fourth District Court of Appeals decision that prevents the city from implementing a ban on single-use plastic bags.
“This decision does not reflect a change in the City’s commitment to reducing single-use plastic bags or defending Home Rule,” Eliason said in the statement. “Rather, the decision is based on the reality that due to the current political makeup of the Ohio Supreme Court, the City has very little chance of prevailing.”
Six Republican judges and one Democratic judge sit on the Ohio Supreme Court.
The city established the single-use plastic bag ban by ordinance in 2023, and it took effect briefly in 2024. But the Ohio Attorney General’s Office sued the city, and the Athens County Court of Common Pleas found that the local ordinance violated state law.
The city maintained the local government had ‘home rule’ authority to ban single-use plastic bags. However, the Fourth District Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court in a July 16 decision, leaving the city to either drop the case or take it to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Athens City Council weighed in on the question during an executive session at Monday night’s council meeting, said member Alan Swank, 4th Ward, who introduced the ordinance banning single-use plastic bags. Swank said he agrees with what Eliason shared in her statement.
“Years ago, when you went to court, you went to court, and the court was the court and the law was the law,” Swank said. “Unfortunately, in the last I-don’t-know-how-many years –– not too many –– the court has become politicized, where we actually talk about Republican members and Democratic members.”
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill into law in 2021 that added candidates’ party affiliation to the ballot for top judicial races, including Ohio Supreme Court candidates.
“We are disappointed in the result, but proud the City championed this cause,” Eliason said in her statement.
Milena Miller, a member of the activist group Athens ReThink Plastics, told the Independent in a July 24 email, “I have advised against pursuing our case further. It is a waste of time and money.”
In a conversation prior to the city’s decision, Swank told the Independent the city council would have to heavily weigh the cost of appealing its case to the Ohio Supreme Court, especially given various financial strains on the city recently.
However, Eliason told the Independent that the case was largely handled by the Law Director’s office and its employees, including herself and Assistant Law Director Jesse Branner Hittle. Therefore, the case didn’t pose much financial burden to the city.
All in all, the city spent just under $1,700 consulting with an external attorney for the case, according to records obtained by the Independent.
Before the city decided not to appeal, Eliason told the Independent that she anticipated that it was possible the city could incur additional consulting costs as the result of an appeal, but that she anticipated the case would still be largely handled in-house.
The city’s decision not to appeal the case leaves decisions on whether to provide plastic bags up to individual vendors.
Swank said he is disappointed that more local businesses have not taken their own steps to shift away from single-use plastic.
He specifically referenced Kroger, saying that at the grocery store “those bags were back in a minute,” following the city’s initial defeat in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas.
“Had Kroger followed through on that on their own, which they could as a store … people would have gotten used to it,” Swank said.
A media representative for Kroger did not immediately return a request for comment.
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