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Athens will appeal the ruling against its ban on single-use plastic bags

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Athens City Council directed its city law director to appeal a ruling against the city’s ban on single-use plastic bags.

Plastic single-use shopping bags at the checkout area in a Walmart store.
Plastic single-use shopping bags at the checkout area in a Walmart store. [JHVEPhoto | Shutterstock]
At the council’s meeting Tuesday, officials said the decision to overturn the plastic bags ban encroaches on Athens’ home rule authority.

Councilmember Alan Swank said the judge used facts not agreed upon by either party when he ruled the ban was unconstitutional.

In the ruling Thursday, Judge George McCarthy wrote that the city had no authority to pass the ban because it directly conflicts with a state law that allows retailers to use plastic bags.

The ban, which was in effect at the start of 2024, was passed by the Athens City Council in May 2023. The state attorney general filed a lawsuit in December seeking to overturn the ban.

The city argued its ban was a proper exercise of home rule authority and it has authority under state law “to enact laws and policies regarding environmentally friendly business practices.”

In 2021, the state Legislature passed a law allowing businesses to choose which kinds of bags they wanted to use, specifically including plastic bags.

Mayor Steve Patterson urged the City Council to pass the recommendation to appeal Judge McCarthy’s ruling.

“I say the law director takes this up a level and we keep going…we keep going if we take it all the way up to the Ohio Supreme Court,” Patterson said. “I think it is important to us as a community to hang on to every ounce of home rule that we have.”

The city has 30 days to file an appeal.