Bill > A5331

Introduced Session

This bill would prohibit food service businesses in the State from providing customers with access to single-use plastic utensils or condiments, except in certain limited cases. "Food service business" is defined, by the bill, to mean a restaurant, café, food truck, vendor station, cafeteria, or any other facility or premises, or section or part thereof, including, but not limited to, a section or part of a grocery store, convenience store, hospital, school, sports arena, entertainment venue, or other similar facility or venue, where meals are prepared and served to customers for immediate consumption thereby on or off the premises, whether on a take-out, eat-in, drive-thru, or delivery basis. "Single-use plastic utensils or condiments" is further defined by the bill to mean those utensils or condiment packets or packages which are composed of conventional plastics and are designed to be discarded, by the consumer, after a single use. Specifically, the bill would provide that, commencing on its effective date (i.e., the first day of the seventh month next following the date of the bill's enactment): (1) no food service business operating in the State will be authorized to provide single-use plastic utensils or condiments to any customer, except upon, and in accordance with, the express request of that customer; and (2) a food service business that has on-site seating capacity for 50 or more customers will be required to provide its on-site customers with easy access to reusable, washable utensils that may be used thereby while consuming meals on the premises, and which are to be returned to the food service business, upon completion of the on-site meal, for the purposes of cleaning and reuse. Any food service business that elects to supply customers with single-use plastic utensils or condiments, upon customer request, as authorized by the bill, would be additionally required to provide each customer with only those types and amounts of single-use plastic utensils and condiments that have been expressly requested by the customer. A food service business would also be prohibited from creating, acquiring, or providing customers with bundled utensil or condiment packages that contain more than one type of single-use plastic utensil or condiment, regardless of the nature of any customer request therefor. The bill would specify that nothing in its provisions may be deemed to: (1) require a food service business to provide any single-use plastic utensils or condiments to customers, upon request, as authorized by the bill; or (2) in any way restrict a food service business' ability to provide its customers with eco-friendly alternative utensils and condiments, either on an exclusive basis or otherwise. Pursuant to definitions established in the bill, "eco-friendly alternative utensils or condiments" would include: utensils and condiment packets or packages which are composed of compostable material or another material approved, by the department or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional plastics, regardless of whether such utensils and condiment packages are designed to be discarded, by the consumer, after a single use; utensils and condiment packets or packages which are designed to be used multiple times and are not intended to be discarded after a single use, regardless of whether such utensils and condiment packages are composed of conventional plastics; and any other utensils and condiment packets or packages that are approved, by the department or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastic utensils or condiments. Any food service business that exclusively provides its customers with eco-friendly alternative utensils and condiments would be fully exempt from compliance with the bill's requirements. Any non-exempt food service business that violates the bill's provisions would be liable to a civil penalty of $1,000 for the first offense, $2,500 for the second offense, and $5,000 for the third and each subsequent offense, to be collected through a summary proceeding, and each day on which a violation occurs would constitute a separate and distinct offense. The bill would specify, however, that no food service business will be subject to a penalty, under the bill, if it acquires, possesses, or maintains on the premises, a supply of single-use plastic utensils or condiments to provide to customers, upon request, as authorized by bill. Any moneys collected from penalties imposed pursuant to the bill would be deposited into the "Clean Communities Program Fund" for use in financing litter pickup, removal, education, and enforcement programs at the State and local levels.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Herbert Conaway (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee (on 03/23/2023)

Official Document