The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to restrict the use of single-use plastic straws and stirrers in unincorporated areas of the county in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up on county beaches, landfills and waterways.
The Board motion builds on recent forward-thinking city and state legislation that has restricted or banned single-use plastic products for food consumption.
More than 100 municipalities in California including Santa Monica, Calabasas, Culver City, Hermosa Beach, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, South Pasadena, and Hollywood have adopted similar ordinances.
In addition, Disney and Starbucks recently announced plans to curtail the use of plastic straws.
Unlike the recently enacted state ban, the county motion will impact restaurants, bars and fast food establishments, not just full-service restaurants. It also addresses the concerns of disabled people who may require straws.
“As of January 2019, servers will ask customers if they want a straw or stirrer. It’s up to the customer. If you want one, you can still get one,” said Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, co-author of the motion.
“Restricting the use of straws is one step toward a much larger goal of raising public awareness and reducing the amount of discarded plastics that pollute the planet,” Kuehl said.
“So many of the plastic straws that end up being thrown out are ones that customers didn’t need or want,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “With a relatively small change of making plastic straws available only upon request we can make a big difference in the amount of wasted plastic that ends up in our landfills and pollutes our waterways.”
Read the Board’s letter here.
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2 Comments
Idiots.
In complete agreement with your curt assessment Mellie, but not the way you meant it. Having just returned home from Vons where the first thing I saw when getting out of my car was a plastic straw on the ground. Suck it up, girl!