Beverly Hills Considers Plastic Utensils Ordinance

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The city of Beverly Hills is inviting business owners and residents to weigh in on a potential ordinance that would require food service establishments to provide plastic cutlery to customers only upon request.

The city is hosting its third forum on the issue Wednesday, from 4-5 p.m.

If the ordinance is enacted sometime this summer, businesses will only provide reusable silverware without customers first asking for it. They will also need to let that be known through signs on the premises and in online ordering platforms.

The ordinance is being proposed by the Public Works Commission, and would ultimately need final approval from the City Council. The commission is advocating this change to help decrease the pollution and carbon emissions caused by the manufacturing and disposal of plastic utensils.

“This ordinance makes it simple for the community to eliminate one stream of single-use plastics, disposable cutlery, without much effort,” Director of Public Works Shana Epstein said in a statement.

The city of Los Angeles passed a similar ordinance that will go into effect for establishments with more than 26 employees on Nov. 15, 2021, and all food and beverage establishments in April 2022. The ordinance also prohibits facilities from having self-service disposable foodware dispenser accessories. The enforcement of LA’s ordinance is fairly lenient: written notes for the first two violations, and $25 fines for each subsequent violation, but fines will not exceed $300 per calendar year.

In 2019, Los Angeles passed a similar ordinance pertaining to plastic straws.

In April, the city of Pasadena passed a similar ordinance on plastic utensils modeled after the LA ordinance that went into effect in late May.

The city of Calabasas passed a more stringent ordinance in 2019 banning outright the sale and distribution of plastic straws, stirrers, and cutlery. Similar ordinances exist or are being proposed throughout the country.

• To participate in the meeting, log onto www.gotomeet.me/CBHPWT/jdescalzo, or dial in to 1-877-309-2073, access code 292-162-389.