Illinois became the first Great Lake state to officially designate plastic pellets as a pollutant. House Bill 4418, enacted on August 7, 2026, requires the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to develop and implement best management practices for the control of plastic pellets or other preproduction materials—often known as nurdles—in stormwater runoff.
In an August 7, 2026 News Release, Governor JB Pritzker’s Office indicated Illinois will seek to hold producers of industrial plastic pellets accountable for discharges of nurdles into waterways. Further, industrial facilities will be required to have a plan in place to keep nurdles, a form of microplastics, out of waterways to protect wildlife and drinking water supplies.
Nurdles are visible microplastics that can be regulated, but most other microplastics are too small to see. According to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, nurdles measure between 2 and 5 millimeters while, secondary microplastics are much smaller—sometimes thinner than a human hair or a strand of DNA. The regulation of secondary microplastics is particularly challenging, as standardized testing and detection methods are still being developed.
Illinois Ends Automatic Adoption of Federal Environmental Rules
Illinois will no longer rubber stamp federal environmental rules. House Bill 5070 provides that the Illinois Pollution Control Board shall not adopt “identical in substance” USEPA rules imposing standards that are less stringent than existing regulations. Instead, these federal rules will go through the normal rulemaking process, subject to notice and public comment and participation, before Illinois adopts them.
In an August 7, 2026 News Release, Governor JB Pritzker’s Office indicated the law is in response to federal changes weakening environmental protections. In particular, HB 5070 ensures that Illinois will maintain its state-level PFAs standard, despite a federal rollback. An expedited process will no longer be available if the federal air, water, or waste regulations at issue are less protective to the environment than the standards Illinois currently maintains.
Illinois Adopts Environmental Justice Statute
Illinois enacted an environmental justice framework for construction permitting in SB 3772. In areas of environmental justice concern, Illinois EPA has additional authority. In an August 7, 2026 News Release, Governor JB Pritzker’s Office indicated that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will have greater air permitting authority to protect environmental justice communities, which are now defined using data analysis of low-income communities of color with historically disproportionately high concentrations of pollution.
Moreover, a cumulative impact analysis will be required to assess all existing air pollution sources, sensitive populations, and other factors that increase community vulnerability. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency must consider changes prior to granting new permits, whether through additional modeling, stronger permit conditions, increased inspections, or prioritizing beneficial funding for the impacted community. Further, Illinois EPA can now, for the first time, also consider an applicant’s past compliance and violation history, require additional community outreach, and encourage the use of new pollution prevention technologies.
