The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously voted to begin the process to phase out single-use plastics in restaurants, stores, food trucks, hospital cafeterias, and other city facilities. All single-use food ware must be compostable or recyclable.
“The future of Los Angeles is plastics-free!” — Mitch O’Farrell, Councilman
When will Los Angeles County ban single-use plastic for good?
The ordinance to ban single-use food ware will be taking effect May 1, 2023. This gives restaurants and other businesses lots of time to make the transition.
What will happen if restaurants and other businesses don’t comply to the new single-use plastic ban in Los Angeles?
If restaurants and other businesses refuse to make the change they could be fined up to $1000 a year.
In an attempt to help companies to transition to using reusable or compostable food ware, the Bureau of Sanitation will be providing zero-waste training courses.
Let’s put a fork in single-use plastics!
“This is another step in the long-term effort to reverse the profound damage and degradation to our environment that I’ve witnessed in my own lifetime with the profound, widespread use of plastics everywhere, which did not exist before the 1970s.” — Mitch O’Farrell, Councilman
4 Reasons Why We Need to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic:
- Disposable plastic items don’t biodegrade! They break down into microparticles that contaminate our environment.
- Microplastics pollute our water sources and food.
- Only 9% of plastic waste actually gets recycled. The rest is either burned or dumped in a landfill.
- The single-use plastic trade and plastic pollution disproportionately affects poorer and disadvantaged communities.
Why Is the Zero Waste Movement Important?
Overconsumption is one of the biggest causes of climate change. Humans are guilty of overconsuming food, fashion, and other materialistics without thinking about the impact it has on the planet.
Did you know that more than $31 billion of food is wasted each year?
Living zero waste is good for the economy.
Reducing, reusing, and recycling creates ten times more jobs.
Living zero waste is good for the environment.
It takes 20 times less energy to make an aluminum can from recycled materials than raw materials.
Living zero waste is good for the community.
Community initiatives can redistribute unwanted food to shelters, food banks, and more.
4 Small Steps Towards a Low Waste Lifestyle:
- Opt-out of flyers and junk mail being delivered to your home.
- Buy products with reusable packaging.
- Reduce food waste by meal planning.
- Learn how to make your own shampoo, toothpaste, and deodorant.
This new law in Los Angeles, California to stop the use of plastic cutlery is a H U G E win for marine and human life!
TreeEra helps individuals and businesses reduce human impact on the planet we love by community-funding the planting of trees.
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