Background:  

During the 2024 and 2025 Legislative Session, STC and our environmental partners successfully contributed to the defeat of a “trash bill” that would have prevented local governments from regulating nearly all single-use items. Florida’s tourism economy and natural resources being dependent on beaches and waterways free from trash. However, the Legislature has continuously tried to stop single-use regulation in Florida altogether through these preemption bills. Unfortunately, the language from these bills is back again in 2026.

Bill Summary: 

HB 629 – Regulation of Auxiliary Containers aims to strip local government power to regulate single-use items away and prevent new regulations from being passed. The bill only allows for regulation of glass, regulation of foam containers passed before 2016, and regulation of auxiliary containers in State Parks. Instead of addressing Florida’s pollution crisis, this bill takes away communities’ authority to regulate items that are used once and quickly become trash.