First, California came for plastic straws. It did nothing meaningful for the environment, but it made lawmakers feel good — albeit at the expense of consumers.
Now, the state could be coming for “single-use cups” at chain restaurants.
It’ll do nothing for the environment, again, but it’ll make lawmakers feel good, again. Guess what it will do to your wallet, Californians?
According to The Center Square, a conservative publication, Democrat Sen. Catherine Blakespear, who represents a district in the San Diego suburbs, has introduced Senate Bill 1167, which would require chain restaurants to stop using paper or plastic single-use beverage cups.
Instead, the text of the bill mandates that they provide customers dining in-restaurant with “a durable cup, mug, or glass containing hot or cold liquids that is cleaned and reused by the food service facility.”
A chain restaurant, according to the law, is defined as one with over 60 locations.
“California has a massive plastic waste problem, and if we are serious about protecting our environment and living sustainably, we must reduce it across the board,” Blakespear said, according to KTLA-TV.
“SB 1167 is a simple, sensible step to reduce waste coming from restaurants.”
A “simple, sensible step” which was, of course, hailed by environmentalist groups.
“Although single-use drinkware is often marketed as recyclable or compostable, cups often end up in the landfill or the environment, along with lids, stirrers, drink stoppers, and drink sleeves,” read a joint statement in support of SB 1167 issued by a coalition of groups like the Surfrider Foundation and Californians Against Waste, among others.
“Even paper cups are usually lined with polyethylene plastic, making them difficult to recycle. Single-use cups are among the top items found polluting coastlines, communities, and national parks in California.
“Once in the environment, plastic and foam cups break up into micro- and nanoplastics, posing a threat to the environment and human health.”
But this doesn’t just mandate biodegradable paper cups, even though that would be equally ridiculous. No, we have to have reusable cups in McDonald’s, Burger King and In-N-Out.
This meddling in terms of what restaurants supply customers with doesn’t just extend to cups, either. In 2018, Assembly Bill 1884 was introduced, banning restaurants from giving customers “single-use” plastic strawswithout them asking for it.
“We need to create awareness around the issue of one-time use plastic straws and its detrimental effects on our landfills, waterways, and oceans,” said Democrat state Assemblyman Ian Calderon, the Assembly Majority Leader at the time, when he introduced the bill.
That ban didn’t apply to fast-food restaurants, however, according to one sugarcane-straw distributor. I guess they’re not so lucky this time.
Nor were they so lucky with Assembly Bill 1276 — known as the “Skip the Stuff” act — which banned restaurants from automatically distributing “utensils, straws and condiment packets unless requested by customers,” according to KUSI-TV.
California is already the most expensive state to open a restaurant in, according to CityBiz. Lawmakers don’t want to put a stop to that; quite to the contrary, they want to make it more expensive and difficult, with compliance measure on top of compliance measure. In this case, it would literally force fast-food and coffee joints to invest in a whole slew of reusable mugs and cups — which will eventually have to be replaced, too, and likely won’t be as biodegradable as a paper cup would be.
With all that in mind, is it any wonder that people are fleeing California in droves?
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