So long, wasteful plastic-wrapped cutlery with those teeny salt and pepper packets.
Starting Jan. 1, Washington restaurants can no longer bundle plastic utensils or hand them over individually without customer request under one phase of the state's comprehensive law aimed at drastically reducing our reliance on single-use plastics.
The restrictions on single-use serviceware extend to plastic lids for cold beverages, condiment packets and little cups of sauce.
U.S. consumers toss 1 trillion — yes, trillion — such items in the trash every year, according to data cited by the Washington State Department of Ecology, and it falls beyond the doorstep of takeout orders. In a June 2021 study, Upstream, a nonprofit advocating for an overhaul of the systems and cultural behaviors that generate waste, found that on-site dining accounts for 20 percent of that garbage that, in addition to jamming landfills, pollutes waterways and endangers marine life.
It also costs money, with restaurants spending $24 billion on single-use items annually, and municipalities (and thus taxpayers) shelling $6 billion to haul it away.
Washington's roll-out of restrictions on single-use serviceware is the first phase of S.B. 5022, which went into effect last July. Considered to be the most comprehensive of its kind nationwide, the law also addresses expanded polystyrene — colloquially known as the brand Styrofoam — and increases the amount of post-consumer recycled content required for plastics of all kinds.
It follows Washington's plastic bag ban, launched in October with a mandatory fee of at least $0.08 for any bag, including paper or heavy-duty plastic.
Eight states and many U.S. cities have enacted similar bag bans, but only a few have pursued restrictions on plastic utensils. Seattle nixed straws and utensils in 2018 (paper or compostable versions are permitted); Honolulu followed in early 2021. California's utensil law starts next June.
Here's everything you need to know as Washington's plastics law begins its multi-year rollout.
IS THIS A BAN ON PLASTIC UTENSILS?
No. Unlike Washington's bag ban, which is structured to eliminate thin, grocery-style plastic bags from the ecosystem, the serviceware portion of the law does not prohibit plastic straws and ketchup packets.
"It's not a ban," said Shannon Jones, who leads the Department of Ecology team in Western Washington tasked with implementing and enforcing the new law. "It's just a policy to reduce the automatic inclusion of single-use items that often go to waste because they're not wanted or needed."
In other words, the section of the law on serviceware targets behavioral changes.
"Similar to the bag ban," continued Jones, "it just puts people in a frame of mind of actually thinking about those things that we've taken for granted for so long."
She described it as "a dialogue" between customers, who can continue to request these items, and businesses, which can offer them, either orally or at a self-service station — already a common sight at coffee shops and quick-service restaurants.
WHAT DOES 'BUNDLED' MEAN?
You know those flimsy plastic sleeves with a spoon, fork, knife, folded napkin, salt and pepper packets? They are basically banned under this new law.
Utensils must be available individually, so that a customer isn't forced to take a knife when they only need a spoon.
That means restaurants cannot offer those sleeves, and they can't roll disposable napkins with a trio of plastic cutlery either.
WHAT KIND OF UTENSILS ARE RESTRICTED?
First, the law is about more than just a plastic fork.
In addition to restricting plastic cutlery, it also limits straws and chopsticks. Yes, the latter is typically made of bamboo, but does an order of fried rice for two people require six sets of chopsticks that will inevitably end up cluttering your kitchen drawer or worse, head straight to the rubbish?
Restricted single-use items also entail accouterments like picks for cocktail garnishes, those little plastic stir sticks used for hot coffee, and plastic lids for cold beverages. Condiment packets and single-serve "portion" cups of sauce or dressing are also roped in here.
DID YOU JUST SAY NO LIDS?
Not exactly.
First, at drive-thrus, the restriction does not apply. Businesses can continue to automatically put a lid on your Italian soda or iced coffee. Same goes for delivery or curbside pickup orders. (Sealed lids are a requirement for to-go cocktails, now lawful in Washington state through at least 2023.)
Enclosed events with capacity over 2,500 people, like a concert or football game, can also automatically add lids.
Second, hot drinks are excluded regardless of setting. A latte in a disposable cup, then, will still come with a lid, presuming the business opts to serve it that way.
SO... I CAN STILL GET A LID, A STRAW, A PLASTIC FORK?
Yes — it just won't happen automatically.
Let's say you're sitting at a cafe and order an iced coffee. In this case, you will have to request a lid or straw, should you want one. Alternatively, the business can set up a self-serve station for guests to help themselves.
Another scenario: You belly up to the bar, and you need a Bloody Mary, often served with an array of pickled things stuck onto one of those bamboo toothpicks with the little twirl at one end. The thing is, you hate pickles.
"That might also be an opportunity to address some of the food waste that comes with that," noted Jones.
When ordering food online, businesses will be expected to require customers to select whether they want utensils and how many.
The goal, said Jones, is focused on "reducing the implicit reliance on single-use items and only taking them when you need them."
ARE THERE OTHER EXCEPTIONS?
Yes. It would be precarious to take pad Thai home in a container without a lid.
The law does not apply to plates, bowls, cups or other single-use containers or wrappers to carry food or drink.
It also excludes items provided at a medical or long-term care facility, and through services to people with disabilities or through programs such as Meals on Wheels.
For corrections facilities, day cares and other youth centers, they are expected to restrict automatic usage of single-use items only where "operationally feasible and practicable."
BUT I THOUGHT PLASTIC WAS RECYCLABLE?
People have a tendency to think all plastics can go in the recycling bin, which is far from the reality and actually ends up contaminating otherwise valuable items.
"These single-use items are not recyclable in any curbside program," noted Jones.
Some areas have drop-off locations for certain items that will recycle them — Tacoma's refuse center accepts plastic beverage lids, for instance — "but even in those there are complications," said Jones, including fewer markets interested in purchasing these kinds of recycled plastics.
What can and can't go in your curbside bin at home is confusing enough.
"I know it can be frustrating for customers," she continued. It's better to "focus on those items that are really recyclable," such as plastic bottles, metals such as aluminum cans, and cardboard.
WHAT IF A BUSINESS DOESN'T CARE?
The Department of Ecology has authority to enforce the law, but Jones stressed that the approach hinges foremost on education and mutual understanding. The agency has developed point-of-sale and other informational posters to help consumers understand the policy, too.
Persistent ignoring of the single-use serviceware law, following two written notices, would lead to a civil penalty of $150 to $2,000 per day.
Though not a requirement, the law encourages businesses to take initiative beyond these expectations "that support a goal of reducing the use of and waste generated by single-use foodservice products."
WHAT'S THE LONG-TERM GOAL?
"Though convenient," said Jones, "we can change our habits and we can return to systems and practices that aren't totally reliant on plastic."
The state's plastic bag ban straight-up prohibits thin plastic bags, save for produce bags or those often used to cover meat packaging, while encouraging paper bags or heavy-duty plastic made from at least 40 percent recycled content. To distribute the latter, retailers must — by law — charge the customer at least an 8-cent fee.
Taken together, the ambition is about reuse. Ideally, you get tired of paying for bags and start bringing your own.
The state has applied the same mentality here: If you're taking that enchilada home, you have silverware waiting. If you're regularly on-the-go, maybe you develop a habit of keeping a reusable cutlery set in your bag — find your favorite in lasting, sustainable materials ranging from bamboo to titanium, complete with matching carriers.
With this law, retailers must simply ask, but that doesn't mean they can't charge you. Many restaurants already add a fee for takeout orders to compensate for the cost of boxes, not to mention the labor involved with packing and organizing.
ARE MORE WASTE REDUCTION MEASURES ON THE WAY?
Yes. The single-use serviceware reduction is Step 1 of S.B. 5022.
The second step starts in June 2023 with the ban of packing peanuts or similar packaging polystyrene.
Also in 2023, all plastics — from trash bags to Pepsi bottles — must contain a minimum of recycled content; in 2025, the requirement would extend to products such as household cleaners and personal care, and in 2028 to plastic milk jugs and small wine bottles.
By 2024, polystyrene coolers and foodservice items such as plates, clam shell containers, cups and trays would also be banned.
All of the above coincides with another Department of Ecology initiative: to eliminate PFAS from food packaging like pizza boxes, trays, takeout boxes and plates.
"There will be growing pains," said Jones. "The idea with all of these policies is to move people to a greater culture of re-use."
