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Home My WebLink About3A Public CommentMay 5, 2021 The Honorable Christy Holstege Mayor, City of Palm Springs 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way Palm Springs, CA 92262 t )(!II CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION Re: Item 3.A: Reusable Food Service Ware and Plastic Waste Reduction Ordinance (OPPOSE) Dear Mayor Holstege and Honorable City Council, On behalf of the California Restaurant Association (CRA), I would like to take this opportunity to express our strong opposition of Item #3.A -a proposed ordinance that would ban the commercial use of recyclable food ware, mandate reusable service ware and require a customer charge on disposable cups and containers in the City of Palm Springs. As an industry that shares the ongoing concern over litter by routinely partnering on litter abatement efforts at the state and local levels, the restaurant community is also concerned about overburdening landfills and has engaged in public policy to encourage recycling and reduce food waste. Comprehensive efforts should be aimed at reducing all composition of material in the landfills. The CRA has maintained a longstanding history of supporting and advocating for packaging mandates that require all food packaging materials to be recyclable or compostable. Over the past 14 months the restaurant industry has been devastated by the government ordered pandemic shutdowns and operational limitations. As a result of the forced and prolonged closures, customer traffic has decreased, sales have plummeted and unemployment has soared. As COVID-19 remains a serious public health threat -restaurants continue to take aggressive, necessary steps to protect the public health and safety. Unfortunately, the trade-off for these protective public health measures has been a near decimation of the restaurant community. Today, even with the recent limited re-opening of dining rooms, restaurants continue to struggle financially and will face a long and slow road towards recovery. CRA remains puzzled as to why the City would impose such onerous regulations on an industry that has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic. First, the proposed ordinance would mandate a charge on disposable cups and containers. Imposing such a guest charge is a regressive fee 621 Capitol Mall, Suite 2000 Sacramento, CA 95814 T: 800.765.4842 F: 916.447.6182 www.calrest.org ITEM NO. --::...3~~- tM1t J CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION with larger implications for lower income consumers . Adding twenty-five to fifty cents per cup and container will add significant costs to each consumer restaurant order. Furthermore, with the rapidly escalating minimum wage rates and continued precautionary measures of COVID-19, many restaurants have already increased prices -and there is a tipping point where the local market cannot sustain further price increases. The proposed ordinance also includes a restriction on the distribution of food ware accessories (i.e. straws, utensils, condiments, napkins etc.} for "upon request only." We share the goal of finding ways to mitigate the automatic provision of these items to guests and want to avoid serious operational challenges within the restaurant. CRA believes that any development of an upon request policy must include self-serve dispensers at casual dining and quick service establishments. The CRA continues to work closely with local governments across California to abate the unnecessary distribution of plastic utensils and excessive food ware accessories by enacting an "upon offer" and self-service only model inside restaurants. We believe this solution is environmentally friendly and mitigates the negative reactions from patrons that may become agitated should they not receive food ware utensils and accessories with their order. Additionally, CRA believes that quick service establishments with drive thru service MUST be able to provide or offer straws and other food service accessories. Drive thru service is most challenging for our community in relation to food ware accessories. Restricting a restaurant's ability to provide drive thru customers with the products they will need to consume the food and drink they have purchased while in their vehicle will cause significant customer inconvenience, frustration, and an all too often backlash towards employees once they have driven away from the restaurant. Additionally, there is concern for the safety of our customers while consuming food and drink in their vehicles if not given the expected food packaging materials. Therefore, we believe that drive thru windows should be excluded from the "upon request" policy and instead be allowed to "offer" all food ware accessories to customers. Furthermore, we are also strongly opposed to any potential ban on disposable food ware for all dine- in customers, and requiring re-usable food ware inside the restaurant space. Requiring re-usable food ware for all in-store dining creates problems given the space limitations in restaurants and the resulting increased utility and water usage required for the additional appropriate dishwashing and sanitizing capability. Restaurants do not generally have control over their physical footprint and may not be able to physically accommodate additional dishwashing machines. Alternatively, restaurants would need to hire more staff to wash these dishes, adding to an already unbearable set of labor costs. Such a requirement may actually have unintended environmental consequences in addition to the costs and logistical challenges for restaurant compliance. 621 Capitol Mall, Suite 2000 Sacramento, CA 95814 T: 800.765.4842 F: 916.447.6182 www.calrest.org t M II CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION For these reasons, we request that the City of Palm Springs considers each of CRA's recommendations. Restaurants need help from their local governments to survive these financially perilous times and we urge you to consider measures to help restaurants recover from this crisis and, hopefully, emerge as local employers and continue as the fabric of the Palm Springs community. Sincerely, Chris Duggan cc: City of Palm Springs, City Council City of Palm Sprimgs, City Clerk 621 Capitol Mall, Suite 2000 Sacramento, CA 95814 T: 800.765.4842 F: 916.447.6182 www.calrest.org There's a better way than throw-away May 3, 2021 Mayor Holstege and Members of the City Council: Re: SUPPORT: PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PALM SPRINGS MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING REUSABLE FOOD SERVICE WARE AND PLASTICS WASTE REDUCTION Dear Mayor Holstege and Members of the City Council: On behalf of UPSTREAM, I am writing to express our support for the proposed Reusable Food Service Ware and Plastics Waste Reduction Ordinance-item 3A on the May 6th agenda. The measure will help the City reduce plastic and packaging waste in food service and ensure a transition to reusable packaging that is safer for health and the environment, and will help food businesses save money. It represents a brave step forward in tackling a tough problem. UPSTREAM is a national non-profit organization with deep experience in developing and helping to pass reusable foodware policies across the country. We helped draft the Berkeley ordinance that provides a model for this one, and we are working on similar measures across the U.S. We commend city staff in the Sustainability office for conducting a thorough review of state and local policies regarding food and beverage packaging and challenges with composting, recycling, and disposal of food and beverage packaging. Staff also conducted extensive outreach to stakeholders within the City. Requiring reuse for onsite dining is a common sense way to reduce waste, improve the customer dining experience, and help businesses save money, as demonstrated by ReThink Disposable (www.rethinkdisposable.org). The 166 California businesses that have participated in that program have saved between $3,000 and $22,000 per year NET after accounting for the cost of reusables and potential dishwashing. Charging customers for cups and containers, like charging them for single-use bags, will help encourage reusables for take-out and benefit the planet. This is an important problem to tackle since Americans consume over 120 billion disposable cups each year: 54 billion paper, 28 billion plastic, and 26 billion polystyrene foam.1 The consumption of these cups, used in a matter of minutes, generates 2.2 billion pounds of waste and 4 billion pounds of CO2 and consumes 35 billion gallons of water, and 11 million trees!2 Encouraging customers to use reusable cups will significantly cut down on these impacts and provide economic benefits to businesses that provide them.3 1 https · 11www fieedoniaqmyp com/jndµstry-studytcyps-1;gs-3174 blro 2 See cups fact sheet at www.rethinkdisposable.org/resources 3 Alliance for Environmental Innovation: A Project of Environmental Defense and The Pew Charitable Trust. (2000, April 15). Report of the Starbucks Coffee Company/ Alliance for Environmental Innovation Joint Task Force. See also, Bramberg G., Rasmanis V., Westerdahl M, Karlberg C., Life Cycle Assessment: A comparative LCA of Ceramic cups and disposable paper cups, The Royal Institute ofTechnology (2011); See also:CIRAIG, bttps'/Jwww recycguehec goµv gc ca{sjtes/de{aulWifes(docymeotstacy-tasses;eafe-cesuroe;:eoglisb Qdt See also: Garrido, N., ~~ ITEM NO. __ .,_.......,_ 05/ oro/2»1.J 1 The Opt-in for Accessory Items (straws, lids, cutlery, condiment packets) with online orders makes a lot of sense. Too often, meals packaged for online orders give are delivering utensils, straws, condiment packets to customers dining at home or work where they already have these items. It's such a waste. We applaud the measure that would ensure that biodegradable and compostable foodware is free of poly and per fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). There is ample evidence4 demonstrating that PFAS chemicals, widely used in food packaging to provide moisture and grease-proof barriers, are among the most health and environment-threatening, persistent, and indestructible chemicals currently in use. Known as "forever chemicals," they migrate out of the package, into our food and beverages, leach into ground and surface water, contaminate compost, and can be taken up by crops. Banning their use in food packaging is essential. We are at a pivotal moment in time. COVID-19 caused a 78% increase in online food orders resulting in tremendous increases in single-use packaging. The China National/ Green Sword left many U.S. cities without options for recycling mixed paper and plastic. Meanwhile, the petrochemical industry is putting in place infrastructure aimed at increasing plastics production by 400% over the next 30 years.5 Cities all across the U.S. are drowning in single use packaging, primarily plastic, that is hard to recycle and compost. These are products-typically used in a manner of minutes-that have huge environmental impact, regardless of whether they are made from petroleum based plastic, bio-plastic, paper, or agricultural waste. It's time to choose the 2Rs-Reduce and Reuse. It's clear that we can't recycle and compost our way out of this deluge of plastic and packaging waste. In the midst of a climate crisis propelled by consuming too much of the planet's resources, it's time to change the throw away culture. Sincerely, ~-;µ_ Miriam Gordon Policy Director UPSTREAM Cc: Patrick Tallarico, Manager, Office of Sustainability Alvarez del Castillo, M.D. Environmental evaluation of single-use and reusable cups. Int J Life Cycle Assess 12, 252-256 (2007) doi:10.1065/lca2007.05.334 4 Blum A et al 2015. The Madrid statement on poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs}. Environ Health Perspect 123 ·A107 -A111 · Schaider LA, et al, Fluorinated compounds in U.S. fast food packaging. Environ Sci Technol Lett. 2017; 4(3): 105-111; Trier X, Granby K, Christensen Polyfluorinated surfactants (PFS) in paper and board coatings for food packaging. Environ Sci Pollut Res. 2011; 18: 1108-1120; Begley TH, Hsu W, Noonan G, Diachenko Migration of fluorochemical paper additives from food-contact paper into foods and food simulants. Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 2008; 25(3): 384-390 .. 5 Geyer, R., Jambeck, J., Law, K.L. Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made, Science Advances (2017), Vol. 3, no. 7, e1700782. 2 Anthony Mejia From: kimffloyd@fastmail.com Tuesday, May 4, 2021 9:49 AM City Clerk Sent: To: Cc: Patrick Tallarico Subject: Public Comment City Council May 6, 2021 Agenda Item 3A Reusable Food Service Ware and Plastics Waste Reduction @ Mayor Holstege and Members of the City Council Re: Support for Item 3A PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PALM SPRINGS MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING REUSABLE FOOD SERVICE WARE AND PLASTICS WASTE REDUCTION Thank you from the Sierra Club for your leadership on plastics waste reduction! To our knowledge, this is SoCal's most comprehensive ordinance that addresses food service ware. The staff report is well written. We'd like to echo some of the points. • • • Indeed, • "moving away from disposables is the only way to reduce waste." In addition, the Reuse Case • • • • Examples shows the restaurants save money by using reusable ware. • We • are aware that "some restaurants are concerned about customer dissatisfaction if they don't include food ware accessories and the customer needs them later." A citywide policy would put all food service businesses on a level playing field and a mandatory fee • for single use cups and containers will achieve a similar of a level playing field. • • • • • Because • "this implementation time frame is also consistent with the compliance requirements of SB 1383," an increasing number of cities and counties are adopting single use food service ware ordinances, and implemented public education programs for both purposes. 1 5/u Jioif '3 ~ t>IAF'J LI c ov,wn~~ • • In addition, SB 1383 requires minimizing contamination . Banning food service ware that contains PFAS (fluorinated chemicals or commonly known as 'forever chemicals'), is part of the compliance effort. When reusable ware cannot be used, certified PFAS-free compostable ware is the best alternative. We believe that the timing of this ordinance is fortuitous. You may know that if signed into law, AB 1276 will require serve-on-request and reusables for dine-in, and AB 1200 will ban food packaging with PFAS, there's no better way to support these bills than lead by example. Thank you for being leaders in this effort to reduce plastic waste and please let us know if there's any help the Sierra Club can provide. Sincerely, Kim Floyd Conservation Chair Sierra Club San Gorgonio Chapter (Riverside & San Bernardino counties) 760-680-94 79 2