A. The production, management, and consumption associated with disposable food service ware, typically used for only a few minutes before being discarded, have significant environmental impacts, including environmental contamination; consumption of precious resources such as energy and water; emissions of greenhouse gases; air and water pollution; litter on streets; and plastic pollution in waterways and oceans.

B. Disposable food service ware constitutes a substantial portion of the litter found within San Mateo County and the rest of the Bay Area. These types of food service ware are commonly littered or blown out of trash receptacles and migrate through the storm drain system where they eventually end up in the ocean and the county’s beaches and creeks.

C. Polystyrene is a petroleum-based, lightweight plastic material commonly used as food service ware by retail food vendors. Polystyrene, often referred to by the trademark, Styrofoam, has also become a problematic environmental pollutant given its noncompostable and nearly nonreusable nature. The most effective ways to reduce the negative environmental impacts of disposable food service ware include, in order of priority, using reusable food service ware; using natural-fiber-based compostable materials, many made from renewable resources such as bamboo, wheat stalk/stem, and sugarcane that do not contain toxic chemicals; and recycling food service ware. When products are reused and recycled, natural resources are spared, less energy is used to produce new products, and premium landfill space is preserved. When compostable products are turned into compost, they can reduce water use and lessen the need for fertilizer at the site where the compost is applied (e.g., gardens, yards, farm land).

D. Compostable food service ware such as cups, plates, clamshell containers, and utensils are now made from paper, sugarcane stalk, bamboo, wheat stalk/straw, and other blends of natural plant fibers. As these products degrade, they pose less of a danger to the environment.

E. Even with the emergence of compostable plastics, which are derived from renewable biomass sources such as plants and microorganisms, there are limited certified types of compostable plastic that biodegrade in a marine environment.

F. Certain disposable food service ware, including compostable paperboard containers, may contain fluorinated chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), which are synthetic chemicals commonly used in disposable food service ware to repel water and grease. Fluorinated chemicals pose a public health risk as they have been linked to serious health effects including kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disruption, delayed puberty, and obesity.

G. Plastics in waterways and oceans break down into smaller pieces, called microplastics, that do not biodegrade and are present in most of the world’s oceans. Microplastics consumed by marine organisms make their way into animals’ tissues and are beginning to show up in the fish that humans consume. Plastic debris also attracts and concentrates ambient pollutants in seawater and freshwater, which can transfer to fish and other seafood that is eventually sold for human consumption.

H. Reduction of disposable food service ware in the environment will advance compliance with federal, state, and county clean water mandates, including the county’s municipal regional stormwater permit requirement, by helping to reduce trash and litter in stormwater discharges.

I. Understanding the importance of and need for reducing plastic litter, the town adopted this chapter to help further reduce the amount of litter entering the county’s storm drains, creeks, the bay, and the ocean.

J. The town does, accordingly, find and declare that it should restrict the use by food facilities of polystyrene-based disposable food service ware and require the replacement of noncompostable or nonrecyclable disposable food service ware with compostable alternatives that are nonplastic, natural-fiber-based, and free of all intentionally added fluorinated chemicals, when and where possible.

K. The town wants to be consistent with the county of San Mateo’s regulation of disposable food service ware. (Ord. 651 § 1, 2022)