City Council Exploring Complete Straw Ban At LA Restaurants
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles City Council is considering a complete ban on the use of plastic, single-use straws across the city's restaurants.
The council voted 12-0 in favor of an ordinance that could go into effect on Earth Day that bans all Los Angeles moderate-sized restaurants from automatically giving customers plastic straws, which would only be available by request. The vote also directed staff to explore a complete ban on plastic straws by 2021.
Councilman Mitch O'Farrell says he wants Los Angeles to go further than a bill recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that bans full-service restaurants from automatically giving customers plastic straws. That law, which only applies to full-service restaurants and does not apply to fast food restaurants, goes into effect on Jan. 1.
The Bureau of Sanitation would be instructed to report on the feasibility of phasing out single-use plastic straws by 2021, under the proposal approved by the council's energy and environment committee. The proposal would also have the bureau work with the Department of Disability on how to mitigate impacts to the disabled community that could be caused by the phase-out of straws.
The committee also moved to have the city attorney draft a plastic straws-on-request ordinance applicable to food and beverage facilities with more than 26 employees to go into effect on Jan. 1, and applicable to all other, similar facilities by July 1, 2019.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
