Corte Madera approves reusable foodware ordinance
The Corte Madera Town Council has adopted a reusable foodware ordinance that has been tailored to address the concerns of local officials and businesses.
The ordinance, approved unanimously on Tuesday, differs from the county’s model ordinance in that it offers some new flexibilities and restrictions. The town’s ordinance takes effect July 1.
About 40 to 50 food businesses in the town will be covered by the ordinance, officials said.
“We do think it’s responsive to the comments we’ve received from local businesses throughout this process,” Town Manager Adam Wolff told the council. “I think it does, at the end of the day, make significant strides toward waste reduction and transition to compostable materials.”
The goal of the ordinance is to encourage reusable foodware when possible and reduce waste produced by single-use plastics.
The county’s ordinance applies to grocery store food counters, restaurants, delis, bakeries, farmers markets, food trucks, carry-out vendors and other food service providers in unincorporated Marin.
The ordinance includes items such as forks, spoons, knives, chopsticks, napkins, cup sleeves, food wrappers, beverage trays, condiment containers, toothpicks and straws. It mandates that these accessories be made available only upon request or at a self-serve takeout station. Businesses can provide plastic straws on request, but only to accommodate people with “access needs.”
The county has approved a list of temporarily exempt products because there are no natural-fiber compostable alternatives on the market.
The town’s ordinance redefines dine-in restaurants as eateries with seating for 15 or more people, giving more flexibility to smaller establishments where take-out customers are the majority. The ordinance also applies to caterers serving food at events that require town permits.
The ordinance also removes a required 25-cent charge for non-reusable cups.
The town will serve as the enforcement agency. Because the rules are different than the county ordinance, county officials declined to provide enforcement, Wolff said.
Today, there aren’t natural-fiber options for many products such as cup lids. As proposed to the council, Biodegradable Products Institute-certified bioplastics were listed as an acceptable alternative to natural-fiber products.
During the council discussion, Vice Mayor Eli Beckman proposed an amendment: If no natural-fiber product is available, the replacement cannot be plastic; it has to be BPI-certified bioplastic.
“To me, that’s the only way this ordinance can get any better,” Beckman said.
Beckman recognized a concern that WM EarthCare, the company that processes Marin’s compost, only accepts organic compost. Any other compost ends up in the landfill.
The Town Council unanimously endorsed the amendment.
Beckman said he’s interested in looking at ways where BPI-certified products could be accepted there, or if the county would be interested in partnering with haulers that would dump those products at facilities where they could be composted.
Damon Stainbrook, owner of the Pig in a Pickle restaurant in Corte Madera, said the county’s ordinance does not seem to be an effective way of reducing waste.
“This is a frustrating one for me because I completely believe an idea, but again it just comes back to execution and practicality,” Stainbrook said.
He said he has questions about how the town is actually going to enforce compliance. He said there should be some rating system to acknowledge businesses that are compliant.
Councilmember Pat Ravasio she’s glad Corte Madera took its time to get comments from the business owners. Because of that, she said the town is in a good position to enforce the ordinance. She also agreed that the town should recognize businesses that follow the letter of the law.