How Madison Handles Single-Use Items: A Practical Guide

If you live in Madison or are thinking about moving there, single-use items are one of those things you probably won't think about until they affect you directly. Madison has 4 specific rules on the books covering different aspects of single-use items, and some of them might surprise you.

Plastic Bag Rules

Wisconsin Act 302 (2016), codified at Wis. Stat. §66.0419, preempts any Madison ordinance regulating, banning, or charging fees on single-use plastic carryout bags, blocking the kind of policies seen in Milwaukee proposals or Minneapolis.

Key details: Preemption statute: Wis. Stat. §66.0419. Enacted: 2016 Wis. Act 302. Local ban allowed: No. Voluntary programs: Permitted.

There are no Madison bag-ban violations because no ban exists; any local ordinance attempting one would be void under Wis. Stat. §66.0419 and subject to challenge by the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce trade group.

Madison is more permissive than most cities when it comes to plastic bag rules. That said, there are still limits.

Utensils-On-Request

Madison cannot mandate that restaurants provide single-use utensils only upon request, because Wis. Stat. §66.0419 preempts local rules on auxiliary food-service items, leaving the practice voluntary.

Key details: State preemption: Wis. Stat. §66.0419. Voluntary platforms: Common. California model: Not adoptable. ADA accommodation: Always available.

No city-enforceable violations exist; any local mandate against the preemption statute would be invalid, though restaurants ignoring voluntary corporate policies could face private contract disputes with delivery platforms.

Madison is more permissive than most cities when it comes to utensils-on-request. That said, there are still limits.

Plastic Straw Rules

Madison cannot impose a straws-on-request mandate because Wis. Stat. §66.0419 preempts local container and accessory regulation; Madison restaurants may voluntarily adopt the practice but face no city requirement.

Key details: Local mandate: Preempted. Voluntary models: Common downtown. ADA flex straws: Federal protection. UW-Madison campus: Stricter voluntary.

There are no enforceable straw violations because Madison has no straw ordinance; any future mandate would conflict with Wis. Stat. §66.0419 and be invalid under standard preemption analysis.

If you are coming from a city with tighter rules, you will find Madison gives residents more flexibility on plastic straw rules.

Polystyrene Foam Rules

Wisconsin Act 21 (2018), codified at Wis. Stat. §66.0419(2)(a), expanded auxiliary-container preemption to expressly cover polystyrene foam, blocking Madison from banning foam takeout containers, cups, or coolers.

Key details: Preemption: Wis. Stat. §66.0419. Expanded by: 2017 Wis. Act 21. City procurement: Allowed. Local mandate: Prohibited.

No Madison foam-ban violations exist; any attempt to enforce a local ban would be invalid under Wis. Stat. §66.0419, mirroring rulings against similar municipal preemption challenges.

If you are coming from a city with tighter rules, you will find Madison gives residents more flexibility on polystyrene foam rules.

The Bottom Line

Compared to many U.S. cities, Madison gives residents more room on single-use items. 4 of the 4 rules here are rated permissive. But permissive does not mean unregulated. There are still requirements, and the city does enforce them when violations are reported.

These rules come from Madison's publicly available municipal code. For complete penalty schedules, exemption details, and answers to common questions, see the individual ordinance pages throughout this guide.