EXPANDED FOODWARE ORDINAnCE

Find details below about:

• Who will be required to comply with the updated ordinance
• Timeline for adoption and implementation
• Why the City is updating the ordinance
• How to know what disposable foodware is compostable
• Who to contact with questions

WHO IS REQUIRED TO COMPLY WITH THE UPDATED ORDINANCE?
All food providers located or operating within the City of El Cerrito and any provider of prepared food at organized or special events occurring within the city will be required to comply with the updated ordinance. The City will help food providers by providing technical assistance prior to any enforcement action and build public awareness to support a smooth transition. This includes restaurants, grocery stores, delicatessens, mobile food preparation and sale units, drive-ins, coffee shops, cafeterias, short-order cafes, luncheonettes, grills, sandwich shops, hotels, motels, movie houses, theatres, bed and breakfast inns, taverns, bars, cocktail lounges, nightclubs, roadside stands, take-out prepared food places, industrial feeding establishments, catering kitchens, commissaries, special events, food markets, produce stands, and food stands.

WHEN WILL THE FOODWARE ORDINANCE UPDATES TAKE PLACE?

TIMELINE FOR TRANSITION

WHY IS THE CITY OF EL CERRITO MAKING THESE CHANGES TO THE FOODWARE ORDINANCE?

By reducing the use of single-use plastic foodware through the proposed changes to the El Cerrito Foodware Ordinance, the City is taking real steps to reduce the community’s environmental impact, reduce recycling contamination and costs, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and use of single-use plastic, in line with the City’s Climate Action Plan and Strategic Plan goals. Single-use plastic negatively impacts the environment in a variety of ways, such as through pollution, blocked storm drains, and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, single-use plastic and “styrofoam” products have increasingly been identified as having harmful effects to the environment and human health. For example, single use plastic foodware products:

• Take a long time to decompose. This is a problem in landfills and in our environment and waterways. Many of the products are lightweight and buoyant and end up floating to the ocean from creeks and storm drains. Once in the ocean they can be harmful to marine life as they are mistaken for food and ingested.
• Partially breakdown when filled with hot foods or liquids, which results in chemicals entering our bodies because they come into contact with our food and drinks.
• Can only be recycled in limited recycling markets, often are “contaminated” with food waste, and are expensive to recycle. Furthermore, changes in the international recycling markets have made it challenging and costly to recycle single-use plastic containers.

Eliminating the use of single-use plastic foodware products would help protect local waterways and promote environmental sustainability in El Cerrito

HOW DO I KNOW WHICH DISPOSABLE FOODWARE PRODUCTS MEET THE CITY’S REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPOSTING?

To comply with the Foodware Ordinance, disposable foodware products must be able to be composted through the City’s available composting and green waste collection programs and include no intentionally added fluorinated chemicals. There are some plastic products on the market that are biodegradable, meaning, they break down and decompose in the environment. However, the Foodware Ordinance would not allow any plastic products, even if they are biodegradable, because these do not break down well in the City’s commercial green waste program. To make sure the disposable foodware you provide in the future will work in the City’s composting system, look for products that:

• Are BPI Certified.
• Meet the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International standards D6400 or D6868 for compostable materials.
• Are made of paper, bamboo, sugar cane, or other natural materials that can be composted.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?

• Mandatory Recycling and Composting & Proposed Expanded Foodware Ordinance (Public Meeting Slides, September 2021)
• View our brochure (coming soon)
• 2013 Foodware Ordinance
• Sustainable Suppliers List
• Food Ware Ordinance Factsheet - English
• Food Ware Ordinance Factsheet - Spanish
• Food Ware Ordinance Factsheet - Mandarin