HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-02 Ordinance 5547Ordinance No. 5547
Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Chapter 5.30
(Disposable Foodware Items and Other Disposable Products) Title 5 (Health
and Sanitation) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Conform with Changes in
State Law Related to Single-Use Foodware accessories and Standard
Condiments
The Council of the City of Palo Alto ORDAINS as follows:
SECTION 1. Findings and Declarations. The City Council finds and declares as follows:
A. Disposable foodware items are intended to be used once then discarded. These
items pose waste management challenges and can persist in the environment for many years,
causing harm to wildlife and blight to waterways. The production, use and disposal of these
items have significant environmental impacts, including environmental contamination;
consumption of energy, water, and non-renewable polluting fossil fuels; emissions of
greenhouse gases; release of air and water pollutants; depletion of natural resources; litter on
streets and in waterways; plastic pollution; and increased litter clean-up and waste
management costs.
B. Plastics in waterways and oceans break down into smaller pieces that are not
biodegradable. Among other hazards, plastic debris attracts and concentrates ambient
pollutants in seawater and freshwater, which can transfer to fish, other seafood and salt that is
eventually sold for human consumption.
C. The practice of freely giving consumers disposable foodware encourages
consumers, retailers, and food vendors to pay little attention to the quantity of disposable
packaging products they consume and the associated environmental impact.
D. The City of Palo Alto updated its Zero Waste Plan in 2018, with new provisions
designed to help the City reach its goal of 95% diversion of materials from landfills by 2030, and
80% reduction of greenhouse gases by the same year. Disposable foodware poses difficulties
for composting or recycling, and therefore hampers Palo Alto’s goal of zero waste.
E. Policies that restrict the use of disposable foodware encourage reduction of
pollutants and are crucial for conserving resources and protecting the environment, and
integral to Palo Alto’s goal of zero waste.
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SECTION 2. Section 5.30.010 (Definitions) of Chapter 5.30 (Disposable Foodware Items and
Other Disposable Products of Title 5 (Health and Sanitation) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code is
amended as follows (new text underlined and delet ed text struck through):
5.30.010 Definitions.
(a) "City Facilities" refers to any real property, building, structure or vehicle owned or
operated by the City of Palo Alto, its agents, departments and franchises.
(b) "Compostable" means items deemed acceptable within the city's compost collection
program as determined by the Director of Public Works and identified on the city's website.
(c ) “Condiment” means relishes, spices, sauces, confections, or seasonings that require no
additional preparation and that are usually used on a food item after preparation, including
ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, soy sauce, hot sauce, salsa, salt, pepper, sugar, and sugar
substitutes.
(d) "Disposable" means items designed to be used once or a limited number of times and
then discarded, whether the item is non-recyclable, Recyclable or Compostable.
(e) "Food Service Container" means a product used by Food Service Establishments for
serving or transporting prepared and ready-to-consume food or beverages. This includes but is
not limited to plates, cups, bowls, lids, trays and hinged or lidded containers.
(f) "Food Service Establishment" means any establishment, located or providing food within
the City of Palo Alto, which provides prepared and ready to consume food or beverages, for
public consumption including but not limited to any Retail Service Establishment, eating and
drinking service (as defined in Title 18), takeout service (as defined in Title 18), supermarket,
delicatessen, restaurant, food vendor, sales outlet, shop, cafeteria, catering truck or vehicle,
cart or other sidewalk or outdoor vendor or caterer which provides prepared and ready-to-
consume food or beverages, for public consumption, whether open to the general public or
limited to certain members of the public (i.e., company cafeteria for employees). For the
purpose of this ordinance “Food Service Establishment” shall include all entities found in “Food
Facility” as listed in CA HSC Ch.2 Section 113789(a).
(g) "Foodware Item" means any item used or provided by Food Service Establishments to
serve or consume food or beverages. Foodware Items include Food Service Containers,
condiment cups and packets, straws, utensils (forks, spoons, sporks, knives, chopsticks), drink
stirrers, beverage spill plugs, napkins, and other drink or food accoutrements.
(h) "Plastic Foam" means blown expanded and extruded plastic foams made from
polystyrene or other resins which are processed by any number of techniques including, but not
limited to, fusion of monomer spheres (expanded bead plastic), injection molding, foam
molding and extrusion-blown molding (extruded foam plastic). Expanded polystyrene and other
plastic foam resins are generally used to make disposable cups, bowls, plates, trays, egg
cartons, clamshell containers, ice chests, shipping boxes and packing materials.
(i) "Plastic Foam Products" means Disposable Plastic Foam ice chests, cups, bowls, plates,
clamshells, shipping boxes containers, egg cartons, packaging peanuts, packing blocks or other
packaging materials that are not wholly encapsulated or encased by a more durable material.
Additional Plastic Foam Products may be added by administrative regulation promulgated by
the Director of Public Works.
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(j) "Prepared Food" means any food or beverage prepared for consumption using any
cooking, packaging, or food preparation technique, including but not limited to cooking,
chopping, slicing, mixing, freezing, squeezing, or brewing, and which requires no further
preparation to be consumed. Prepared food includes uncooked fruits or vegetables, "take -out"
food, or food prepared to be consumed off the Food Service Establishment premises. Prepared
Food does not include any uncooked meat, fish or poultry.
(k) "Recyclable" means items deemed acceptable within the city’s recycling collection
program as determined by the Director of Public Works and identified on the city’s website.
(l) "Retail Service Establishment" shall have the same meaning as Retail Service as defined in
Title 18 of this Code.
(m) "Reusable Foodware" means a Foodware Item made of durable materials and designed
to be used repeatedly with a useful life greater than one year.
(n) “Third-party food delivery platform” means a business engaged in the service of online
food ordering and delivery from a food service establishment to a consumer.
SECTION 3. Section 5.30.025 (Limitation on the use of Disposable Foodware Items and other
Disposable products) of Chapter 5.30 (Disposable Foodware Items and Other Disposable
Products of Title 5 (Health and Sanitation) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code is amended as
follows (new text underlined and deleted text struck through):
5.30.025 Limitation on the use of Disposable Foodware Items and other Di sposable products.
Effective January 1, 2020:
(a) Food Service Establishments are prohibited from providing the following Disposable
Foodware Items:
1. Plastic straws
2. Plastic utensils (e.g., forks, knives, spoons, sporks, chopsticks)
3. Plastic drink stirrers, drink plugs, and other drink accoutrements such as novelty cocktail
accessories
4. Plastic food picks and toothpicks
(b) Food Service Establishments, City Facilities, and vendors at City-sponsored events shall
provide the following Foodware Items only if they are Reusable or Compostable:
1. Straws
2. Utensils (e.g., forks, knives, spoons, sporks, chopsticks)
3. Drink stirrers, drink plugs, and other drink accoutrements such as novelty cocktail
accessories
4. Food picks and toothpicks
(c) Food Service Establishments shall provide permitted Disposable Foodware Items, other
than Food Service Containers, only upon consumer request or at a self-serve station.
(d) Food Service Establishments are prohibited from providing consumers with wrapped
bundled foodware and condiments.
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1. Food Service Establishments may provide unwrapped disposable foodware accessories
by a single serve dispenser to a consumer using refillable self-service dispensers that dispense
one item at a time to allow for disposable foodware accessories to be obtained.
2. Food Service Establishments may provide condiments to a consumer using refillable self -
service dispensers to allow for condiments to be obtained.
(e) Third-party food delivery platforms are prohibited from providing foodware and
condiments unless the consumer selects or requests the items.
1. Consumers must have the option to opt-in to request disposable foodware and
condiments including the number of each unit identified on the third-party food delivery
platform application, food service establishment web site, or any vendor website or app when
picking-up food from a food service establishment and delivering food to a consumer.
2. If a consumer does not select any disposable foodware accessories or condiments, no
disposable foodware accessory or condiment shall be provided by the food service
establishment or third-party vendor for delivery with ready-to-eat food.
SECTION 4. Section 5.30.030 (Exemptions) of Chapter 5.30 (Disposable Foodware Items and
Other Disposable Products of Title 5 (Health and Sanitation) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code is
amended as follows (new text underlined and deleted text struck through):
5.30.030 Exemptions.
(a) The following exemptions shall apply:
(i) Foods prepared or packaged outside the City of Palo Alto are exempt from the provisions
of this Chapter. Purveyors of food prepared or packaged outside the City of Palo Alto are
encouraged to follow the provisions of this Chapter.
(ii) The Director of Public Works may exempt a Food Service Establishment, Retail Service
Establishment or City Facility/vendor from the requirements of this Chapter for a period of up
to one year, if the applicant for such exemption can demonstrate that the conditions of this
Chapter would cause an undue hardship. An "undue hardship" includes, but is not limited to
situations unique to the applicant where there are no reasonable alternatives to Plastic F oam
Products or non-recyclable plastic Disposable Food Service Containers and compliance with this
Chapter would cause significant economic hardship to that applicant, or cause them to be
deprived of a legally protected right.
(iii) A Food Service Establishment, Retail Service Establishment or City facility/vendor seeking
an exemption application shall include all information necessary for the City to make its
decision, including but not limited to documentation showing the factual support for the
claimed exemption. The Director may require the applicant to provide additional information to
permit the Director to determine facts regarding the exemption application. This exemption
does not apply to the requirements found in California Public Resource Code Chapter 5.2
Single-Use Foodware Accessories and Condiments.
(iv) Emergency Supplies and Service Procurement. City facilities, Food Service
Establishments, Retail Service Establishments, City contractors and vendors doing business with
the City shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter, in a situation deemed by the City
Manager to be an emergency for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or
safety.
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(v) Nothing in this Chapter shall restrict, or be construed to restr ict, the availability of single-
use plastic straws to individuals who may require and request the use of single-use plastic
straws due to disability or other medical or physical conditions or circumstances.
It shall not be a violation of this Chapter for any Food Service Establishment, City Facility or City-
sponsored event vendor to provide single-use plastic straws to such individuals who request
plastic straws.
(1) (vi) The following facilities are not required to comply with the provisions in this
chapter. Health Care Facilities (patient rooms only)
(2) Residential Care Facilities
SECTION 5. If any section, subsection, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held
to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion or sections of
the Ordinance. The Council hereby declares that it should have adopted the Ordinance and
each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase thereof irrespective of the fact that any
one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid.
SECTION 6. This ordinance is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) because under Section 15378(b)(1) of CEQA Guidelines, it is a general policy
making activity and therefore not a “Project” within the meaning of CEQA.
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SECTION 7. This ordinance shall be effective on the thirty-first day after the date of its adoption.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 4ADF4EFB-DE63-421D-9BD1-70B9D52504E2
INTRODUCED: April 18, 2022
PASSED: May 2, 2022
AYES: BURT, CORMACK, DUBOIS, FILSETH, KOU, STONE, TANAKA
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTENTIONS:
ATTEST:
____________________________ ____________________________
City Clerk Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM: APPROVED:
____________________________ ____________________________
Assistant City Attorney City Manager
____________________________
Director of Public Works
DocuSign Envelope ID: 4ADF4EFB-DE63-421D-9BD1-70B9D52504E2
Certificate Of Completion
Envelope Id: 4ADF4EFBDE63421D9BD170B9D52504E2 Status: Completed
Subject: Please DocuSign: ORD 5547 - Updates to PAMC 5.30 Redline.docx
Source Envelope:
Document Pages: 6 Signatures: 5 Envelope Originator:
Certificate Pages: 2 Initials: 0 Mahealani Ah Yun
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250 Hamilton Ave
Palo Alto , CA 94301
Mahealani.AhYun@CityofPaloAlto.org
IP Address: 199.33.32.254
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Caio Arellano
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Attorney
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Director of Public Works
City of Palo Alto
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Ed Shikada
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Ed Shikada, City Manager
City of Palo Alto
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Patrick Burt
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Mr
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Lesley Milton
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City Clerk
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