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Oct 17, 2024

The Party’s Over: Illinois Bans Tiny Shampoo Bottles In Hotels

I'm not really certain how to feel about this, and here's why. When I was growing up, my dad traveled extensively for his job, which meant he spent many nights in hotel rooms across the country. Even

I'm not really certain how to feel about this, and here's why.

When I was growing up, my dad traveled extensively for his job, which meant he spent many nights in hotel rooms across the country. Even back in those days, hotels and motels offered up the tiny bars of soap along with the mini bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

From my earliest memories all the way through high school, I never showered with store-bought, regular sized soaps or shampoos. It was always the miniature versions that dad routinely brought home from the road. I don't think I used a full-sized bar of soap or a bottle of shampoo that contained more than 3 uses until I was in my 20s and buying my own toiletries.

Well, it appears as though those days are gone forever now, at least here in Illinois (and three other states).

The new Illinois law is called the Small Plastic Bottle Act, and it that says personal-care products include shampoo, hair conditioner, and bath soap intended to be used in the shower and defines a small, single-use bottle as "one under 6 ounces that’s not intended for re-use."

The Small Plastic Bottle Act covers both big hotels and the small ones, too. The law goes into effect beginning July 1st, 2025 for hotels with 50 rooms or more and becomes effective on Jan. 1st, 2026, for hotels with less than 50 rooms. Hotels will then be expected to make the transition over to refillable containers.

The hotel would be looking at a written warning for the first offense/violation, then they'll get hit with a $1,500 fine for each subsequent infraction.

Also, according to the law, a hotel may still provide personal-care products in small, single-use plastic bottles at no charge to a person, but only upon request at a place other than a room or public bathroom. I'm not sure what that even means.

IllinoisPolicy puts this into perspective very nicely:

Illinois has more than $142 billion in pension debt, the nation’s second-worst unemployment rate, second-highest corporate income tax rate, second-highest property taxes and fourth highest in-state tuition for public universities. Those major problems have festered for years without state lawmakers finding the political will to fix them.

But they're all over this mini plastic shampoo bottle crisis.

Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz