Government officials announce ban on use of popular restaurant product:

California has already established requirements that will go into effect in 2026 to ban single-use plastic bags and foodware in eateries, and Napa County has gotten a head start on the eco-friendly initiative.

As reported by CBS News last month, the Napa County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that requires dine-in restaurants to use reusable foodware. Under the new guidelines, take-out businesses must also use certified compostable foodware.

The ordinance applies to restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets, food trucks, hotels, movie theaters, catering kitchens, commissaries, and other businesses with a food permit. They will have 12 months to comply with the new rules.

The goal is to reduce the reliance on single-use plastics that contain fluorinated chemicals, also known as “forever chemicals.” Per CBS News, Consumer Reports noted that these chemicals “are often used in disposable foodware for heat and grease resistance, can persist in the environment and in the human body for extended periods and pose potential health risks.”

California is one of 12 states with some type of plastic ban in place, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has been fighting plastic pollution for quite some time. He signed the nation’s first plastic bag ban in 2007 when he was the mayor of San Francisco, according to CBS News.

The state first passed a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery store checkouts in 2014. However, plastic producers found a loophole by creating thicker plastic bags that they argued could be used multiple times. Thankfully, state Sen. Catherine Blakespear passed a bill in September to end that practice, CBS noted.

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As part of the new ordinance in Napa County, businesses will be required to charge 25 cents per bag, with the exception of customers who use food assistance programs. Customers who bring their own foodwares can receive discounts.

The county has plans for outreach and education efforts like a multilingual FAQ with a list of resources, such as compostable foodware vendors.

News of Napa County’s single-use plastic ban was well-received online by residents who appreciate the positive environmental impact.

“Most paper bags were made out of recycled, but they banned them because they thought we were killing trees and they came up with plastic which actually kills the planet now we’re going back to recycled paper, might be a good thing,” a commenter wrote on Facebook.

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