The Solution to Single Use Foodware
Who Benefits
Everyone (except big plastic corporations and fossil fuel corporations)
Restaurateurs - Moving away from disposables to reusable containers saves restaurants money on expensive single use items and on waste management.
Our Health - The included PFAS ban protects us from chemicals which cause health problems including liver damage, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, high cholesterol, obesity, hormone suppression and cancer.
Our Pocketbooks - We pay with our taxes to clean up San Mateo County’s single-use plastics pollution on our beaches and streets.
Who's In Favor?
The County and many pioneering cities (Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, San Mateo, and South San Francisco) have banned plastic foodware and toxic PFAS chemicals through community action and council votes. Daly City and Half Moon Bay have already amended with reuse for onsite dining and others are poised to do so.
Ready to get involved?
Join us in forwarding motions and passing an ordinance to meaningfully reduce plastics and incentivize reusables in San Mateo County cities. With our focused collective action, every voice counts!
The Disposable Food Service Ware Ordinance
We are advocating for San Mateo County cities to add an important amendment - to include reuse for on-site dining - to the Disposable Foodware Ordinance. The ordinance will eliminate plastics and toxic chemicals from our environment and the San Mateo County waste system. But this ordinance isn’t enough. We must move now to zero waste for on-site dining.
The amendment makes the leap from single use to reuse, so when you sit down to eat at a restaurant, you will be served on real plates, cups, and cutlery - no more single-use for dining in. This dine-in reuse will eliminate millions more items of waste, create savings for restaurants and a better dining experience for all.
But what about take-out? The good news is that it also helps pave the way for entrepreneurs to create jobs by providing reusable to-go cups and containers to restaurants for takeout and food delivery. AND the policy includes accessories upon request which reduces millions of single use items for to go orders county wide.
