Azul celebrates the passage of the Utensils on Demand ordinance #SkipTheStuff
Azul is thrilled to celebrate today’s passing of the Foodware Accessories Upon Request ordinance, that requires restaurants and other food service providers to provide all disposable foodware accessories only upon the request of the customer. This is important, because every year, billions of unused foodware accessories including utensils, straws, and condiment packets are tossed away, ending up clogging landfills, polluting our streets and waterways, and adding to the global glut of non-recyclable plastic production.
“Plastic manufacturing and plastic incineration are major contributors to climate change and air pollution,” said Councilmember Paul Krekorian. “Most single-use plastics are never recycled, and many plastic utensils are never even used in the first place. Restaurants have to pay for them, customers receive them when they are not requested, and the global environment suffers as a result. This Council’s passage of this ordinance is one step of many we need to take globally to address the catastrophic environmental and economic effects of single-use plastics.”
#SkiptheStuff is a legislative push by Reusable LA, a coalition focused on addressing and measurably reducing plastic pollution in Los Angeles. Since the pandemic began, consumption of single-use plastic has increased by up to 300 percent, with a 30 percent increase in waste attributed in part to single-use foodware. Nationwide, billions of food accessories are thrown away each year, many of which are not even used once.
“Plastic pollution is environmental racism. The death cycle of plastic affects low-income people of color disproportionally and Los Angeles is a microcosm of it,” said Andrea León-Grossmann, Azul’s Climate Change Director. “From extraction to refineries, production and disposal, whether it is an incinerator or a landfill and everything in between, low-income families are overburden with pollution. Today, Los Angeles is taking the first step to addressing waste. I am hopeful that our City Council will soon take further steps to embrace a reusable economy as a part of a comprehensive Green New Deal for Angelenos.”
Here’s our own Andrea León-Grossmann on why single-use plastic utensils are an environmental justice issue.
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