Napa County bans eateries from using single use plastic bags, foodware
Falling in line with new state requirements that go into effect in 2026, the Napa County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance Tuesday to ban single-use plastic bags and foodware.
The new ordinance requires dine-in restaurants to use reusable foodware. Take-out businesses must use certified compostable food ware. Businesses have 12 months to comply. The new rules apply to restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets, food trucks, hotels, movie theaters, catering kitchens and commissaries, generally all businesses that carry a food permit.
Take-out items that must be made of compostable natural fiber include utensils and fruit and vegetable bags. Fiber-based foodware that is free from intentionally added fluorinated chemicals, also known as "forever chemicals," which are often used in disposable foodware for heat and grease resistance, can persist in the environment and in the human body for extended periods and pose potential health risks, according to Consumer Reports.
California's fight against plastic has gone into extra rounds. Gavin Newsom signed the nation's first plastic bag ban in 2007 as mayor of San Francisco. California's statewide ban of single-use plastic bags at grocery store checkouts was first passed in 2014, but plastic producers slipped by it with the production of thicker plastic bags, arguing they were not "single-use" anymore because the thicker bags could be used multiple times. That loophole got squashed in September by a bill passed by state senator Catherine Blakespear, D-San Diego.
"The reality is that the thicker bags are difficult to recycle - and few are ever recycled - and they are seldom reused," Blakespear said in an online statement.
According to CalRecycle, the amount of grocery and merchandise bags disposed of by Californians grew from 157,385 tons of plastic bags the year the ban was passed to 231,072 tons by 2022 - a 47% increase.
The new Napa County ordinance requires businesses to charge 25 cents per bag with exceptions for customers using Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, EBT, and for Women, Infants and Children, WIC, program participants. Businesses can also offer discounts to customers who bring their own food wares.
County outreach and education efforts will include a multi-lingual FAQ with a list of resources, including compostable foodware vendors. The Restaurants Care Resilience Fund awards grants to help dine-in businesses purchase dishwashers.
Fines can range from $100 for the first violation to $200 for a second violation within a year; and up to $500 for additional violations within a year.
Twelve states, including California, already have some type of statewide plastic bag ban in place, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center. Hundreds of cities across 28 states also have their own plastic bag bans in place.
