Plastics, Polystyrene Packaging Ban Proposed

The state legislature’s Environment Committee will review a range of bills impacting businesses at its last public hearing of the 2025 session March 17. 

The committee’s agenda includes HB 6229, which bans single-use plastics and polystyrene in packaging. 

Effective Jan. 1, 2026, the bill prohibits state and municipal agencies, government contractors, schools, businesses, and food vendors from selling, using, purchasing, or providing:

• Polystyrene food ware and beverage products (e.g., takeout containers, trays, cups)
• Polystyrene packaging products (e.g., packaging peanuts)
• Single-use plastic cutlery, straws, stirrers, splash sticks, and food ware accessories (with exceptions for persons with disabilities)

If enacted, the bill’s provisions would be enforced by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Department of Consumer Protection.

Those agencies would develop an enforcement plan, with penalties that include a written warning for the first violation and a fine of up to $250 for subsequent violations.

Permitting, Fossil Fuel Surcharge

Committee members will also review HB 7174, which will significantly impact the insurance and the fossil fuel industries.

The bill imposes a 5% surcharge to the issuance or renewal of property or casualty insurance policies for fossil fuel infrastructure.

This includes infrastructure related to the processing, exporting, or transporting of oil, methane gas, or coal, such as wells, pipelines, terminals, refineries, and utility-scale generation facilities.

CBIA’s Pete Myers said the surcharge “will only increase costs for businesses in our state that rely on fossil fuels for heat and power generation.”

The committee is considering additional legislation that would streamline permitting processes at DEEP.

 Myers said HB 6868, a priority of the Lamont administration, will “help create a more predictable permitting process at DEEP.”

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For more information, contact CBIA’s Pete Myers (860.244.1921).