HomeMy WebLinkAbout08. Single Use Plastics Memo- VEAC 100824
To: Vail Economic Advisory Council
From: Environmental Sustainability
Date: October 8, 2024
Subject: Single Use Plastics Ordinance Development Process
I. Purpose
The purpose of this memorandum is to present the Vail Economic Advisory Council with an
update on the process and timeline to develop a single use plastic ordinance for the Vail
community and to receive initial input on the process, single use items to include, and potential
challenges to the business community.
II. Background
Following public comment on January 16, 2024, a student presentation to the Vail Town Council
on September 17, 2024, and a staff presentation on October 1, 2024, on single use plastic
ordinances already enacted by peer resort communities, Vail Town Council directed staff to
explore a single use plastic ordinance that fits the community.
Each year over 350 million tons of plastic is created globally and only 9% is ever recycled 1.
Each time plastic is recycled, it is downcycled, becoming a less valuable commodity in the
recycling market. Eventually it can no longer be recycled and is buried in a landfill. Plastic
production requires fossil fuels to create, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and
often becomes a source of litter. As plastic breaks down in the environment, it becomes
microplastics which infiltrate soil and water, becoming part of the ecosystem and food web.
On July 6, 2021, Governor Polis signed HB21-1162, the Plastic Pollution
Reduction Act (PPRA) into law, the second most comprehensive law in the country.
With the signing of this bill, Colorado becomes the first state in the U.S. to strike a state plastics
preemption law, restoring the right of local municipalities to enact their own plastic regulations.
This legislation also institutes a carry out single use bag fee, prohibits distribution of single use
plastic bags from retailers, and prohibits use of polystyrene to- go containers. The four
components of the PPRA, its phased implementation, and Town of Vail’s requirements as
defined in Title 5, Chapter 13 of the Town Code can be referenced in Appendix A.
The last phase of the PPRA went into effect on July 1, 2024, and lifts the local government pre-
emption on plastic bans, allowing local municipalities to enact, implement, and enforce more
1 OECD (2022), Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options,
OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/de747aef-en.
Town of Vail Page 2
stringent laws that prohibit, restrict, or mandate the use or sale of plastic materials, containers,
packaging, or labeling. Several peer resort communities have moved forward with ordinances
prohibiting the sale and distribution of single use plastic water bottles under a gallon and other
service items, which can be referenced in Appendix B: Single Use Plastic Research Matrix.
Alignment with Vail Town Council Strategic Plan
Implementing regulations on single use plastic in Vail aligns with the Vail Town Council 5-Year
Strategic Plan under the Environmental Sustainability Strategic Priority, especially to achieve
two desired results.
• Strategic Priority - Environmental Sustainability:
o Our sensitive alpine environment supports our economy, and the Town must
continue to be a responsible steward of our sensitive natural resources and
should continue to be a leader in environmental sustainability for mountain resort
communities across the world.
• Desired Results:
o E.1 By 2029, Gore Creek is no longer a 303(d) listed impaired waterway which
would reduce near term risk of losing the gold medal fishery status.
o E.3: Reduce 2014 baseline carbon emissions by 25% by 2025, 50% by 2030,
and 80% by 2050.
During public outreach for the development of Vail’s Stewardship Roadmap public input also
indicated support for reduction of single use plastics in Vail, especially water bottles. This
ordinance would also support Action 4: Continue Vail’s Commitment to Environmental
Stewardship in Vail’s Stewardship Roadmap, adopted by the Vail Town Council June of 2023.
A total of $212,000 for Destination Stewardship Implementation was moved from the Vail Local
Marketing District Advisory Council into the General Fund during the first budget supplemental
of 2024. Following a procurement process, Lotus Engineering was selected for a contract for
Destination Stewardship Implementation, funded through the general fund in 2024. A portion of
the contract has been executed to conduct a Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Modeling of high
impact strategies, which is currently underway. There is additional funding for the second phase
of this contract to support Waste Reduction and Diversion Solutions for the Town of Vail, a
portion of which was designed to support single use plastic policy development, including
community and business outreach at $26,838, should the Town Council wish to move forward.
III. Recent Single-Use Plastics Ordinances
Several peer resort communities, such as Telluride, Breckenridge, and Frisco, have recently
adopted and implemented ordinances banning or minimizing use of specific single use plastic
items.
A. Prohibited items: Some common policy adopted includes banning the use or sale of at
businesses, special events, and town owned, leased or operated facilities:
• Single use plastic water bottles under one gallon in size
o Breckenridge has increased the number of and created a map of water filling
stations around town and promotes bringing and using re-usable water bottles.
• Plastic or polystyrene containers for prepared food – includes but limited to plates, cups,
bowls, trays, cartons, and hinged or lidded containers of any kind
• Plastic beverage straws
• Plastic cutlery
Town of Vail Page 3
• Miscellaneous plastic provisions:
o toothpicks wrapped in plastic,
o cotton swabs made with plastic,
o any single-use condiment packages served in plastic,
o plastic garnish spears, or
o plastic stirrers of any kind.
B. Items Available Upon Request Only:
• To-go service ware provided by restaurants upon request only.
o Includes: utensils, chopsticks, packaged condiments, napkins, straws, stirrers,
splash sticks, and cocktail sticks, designed for a single-use
o In some cases single use plastic to-go service ware is permitted and in others it
is prohibited.
o Town of Breckenridge also has a Good at To Go campaign to educate
businesses, residents and visitors. They also have grant program to help
businesses purchase durable service ware or items to move to using durables
instead of single use items, such as dishwashers.
C. Exceptions in place for:
• Packaging or the provision of pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, or dietary
supplements or any equipment or materials used to manufacture pharmaceutical drugs,
medical devices, or dietary supplements.
• Single-use plastic water bottles, shall not apply in cases of emergency or other Town
situations where the Town Manager finds that relying on single-use plastic water bottles
is necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare and no reasonable
alternative would serve the same purpose, including lack of available potable water due
to a natural disaster or disruption in the Town’s water treatment system.
• Prohibition of single-use plastic water bottles shall not apply in the case of law
enforcement, fire department or emergency medical services where individuals are
responding in their official capacities to an emergency or first responder situation.
IV. Ordinance Development Process
Staff will include the following steps in the development of a single use plastic ordinance.
A. Incorporate Town Council input to draft a phased approach to banning specific single
use plastics (e.g., single use plastic water bottles less than one-gallon, plastic cutlery
and to go containers, plastic cups, etc.)
B. Provide community outreach with local businesses, the Vail Local Marketing District
Advisory Council, the Vail Economic Advisory Council and through a community open
house with information and to gather feedback on the proposed plan.
C. Share the plan and input from the community outreach with the Planning and
Environmental Commission and work with the Town Attorney to draft an ordinance to
present to the PEC for a recommendation to the Vail Town Council for approval.
D. Present the ordinance to the Vail Town Council for adoption.
E. Collaborate with relevant departments to develop a marketing campaign to educate
businesses, residents, visitors, and employees.
F. Collaborate with partners to identify new opportunities for water refill stations around
town and create a map of their locations.
G. Work with businesses to ensure they have the resources needed to comply, including a
possible grant program, pending funding.
Town of Vail Page 4
V. Staff Recommendations and Council Direction
At the October 1, 2024, Vail Town Council meeting, Staff asked Council if they supported
moving forward to develop a single use plastics ordinance. Staff recommended the Vail Town
Council include the following items in a proposed ban to have the most impact:
o Single use plastic water bottles less than a gallon in size
o Single use plastic cutlery, straws, single use plastic cups
o Single use plastic service ware (by request only)
Other plastic and single use service items may be added in the future. In order to conduct the
stakeholdering, community input, program and collateral necessary to implement such an
ordinance, staff also recommends that the Town Council support moving forward with the
proposal provided by Lotus Engineering earlier this year.
Following the staff presentation and discussion, Vail Town Council directed staff to move
forward with the process to develop a measured and phased single use plastic ordinance and
work with Lotus Engineering on the process outlined in this memo.
VI. Vail Economic Advisory Council Input
Staff is interested in any initial feedback impressions from the Vail Economic Advisory Council
regarding items to include in the ordinances, concerns or challenges for local businesses,
timeline, and other input. The VEAC will be included in future stakeholdering throughout the
development process for a single use plastic ordinance.
Town of Vail Page 5
Appendix A: Four Main Components of HB21-1162, the PPRA
Phase One:
January 1, 2023: Plastic and Paper Bag Fee
• Fee on all plastic and paper bags went into effect- Vail implemented a 25-cent per
plastic and paper carryout bag fee
• During this time, retailers can still give out plastic bags, but are required to charge
● Affects all grocery and retail stores in Vail
● Restaurants are excluded
● Retailers in Vail keep $0.15 per bag to implement the program
● Town of Vail receives $0.10 per bag to implement program, enforce the law, fund
recycling, composting, waste diversion programs, and education.
● Does not apply to customers with federal or state food assistance programs
● Fee on plastic bags ends Jan. 1, 2024
Phase Two:
January 1, 2024: Plastic Bag Ban
• Ban on plastic carryout bags goes into effect.
• Affects grocery and retail stores in Vail
• Restaurants are excluded
• Stores can use up any remaining stock of bags until June 1, 2024 as long as they
were purchased by Jan. 1, 2024 (bag fee still applies to the remaining stock used)
January 1, 2024 – Ban on polystyrene food containers and cups
● Ban on polystyrene to-go food containers and cups went into effect
● Affects all restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, and schools
● Retail food establishments can use up any polystyrene containers purchased by Jan.
1, 2024, until they are gone
Phase Three:
July 1, 2024: Local government pre-emption on plastic bans is lifted
● Municipalities and counties can enact, implement and enforce more stringent laws
● Local governments can enact and enforce laws that prohibit, restrict or mandate the
use or sale of plastic materials, containers, packaging or labeling
● Exempts packaging for medical products including drugs, medical devices or dietary
supplements
Town of Vail Page 6
Appendix B: Single Use Plastic Research Matrix
Location
Peer Communities Plastic
Straws
Plastic
Cups
Plastic to go
ware
Single use
water
bottles
Polystyrene
Specific
Condiment
Packets
Plastic
skewers
Cotton
Swabs
Plastic
wrapped
Toothpicks
Breckenridge, CO
On July 1st, 2024 Breckenridge, CO banned the sale of single use
plastic water containers less than 1 gallon in size and ended
restaurants ability to use plastic to go containers and silverware
through Town Code: Title 5 Chapter 1-13 Ordinance NO. 12, Series
2023. Single use countainers under 1 gallon of size are to be replaced
by aluminum counterparts. In addition, the SustainableBreck Plan
recommends the Town consider a prohibition on all single-use plastic
beverage containers by 2024 to help achieve 20% source reduction of
municipal solid waste. To that end, we are seeking input and feedback
from local businesses on the feasibility and impact of this proposal.
Local businesses are invited to the Local Business Roundtable to
provide feedback. The town also provides a map of all water refill
stations.
https://breckenridge.town.codes/Code/5-12-6
https://www.summitdaily.com/news/as-breckenridge-
introduces-plastic-bans-town-staff-roll-out-a-campaign-to-get-
the-community-and-visitors-on-board/
https://www.townofbreckenridge.com/Home/Components/Ne
ws/News/2247/32 file:///C:/Users/Aidan/Downloads/State-of-
Recycling-and-Composting-2023-Report_Eco-
Cycle_CoPIRG_web-2.pdf
X X
Frisco, CO
Active July, 1st 2024 Frisco banned the use of single use water bottles
and cups in all government owned locations and their comercial use
and businesses and commercial entities. They continue to ban all
resturants form using polystyrene (commonly known as styromfoam)
to go containers and required all resturants to only provide silverware
on to go orders when specifically requested by customer.
https://library.municode.com/co/frisco/ordinances/code_of_or
dinances?nodeId=1230456 X X X X
South Lake Tahoe, CA Introduces a ban on single use plastic bottles smaller than a gallon and
removes exemptions for polystyrene to go containers.
https://www.cityofslt.us/2267/Plastic-Waste Exec
Summary- https://legistarweb-
production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/1562
290/Item_8_-_Executive_Summary.pdf
Updated Ordinance- https://legistarweb-
production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/1545
575/Ordinance_Amending_Chapter_4.175__Single-
Use_Plastics_.pdf
Staff Report- https://legistarweb-
production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/1545
572/Staff_Report_on_Single_Use_Plastics_Ordinance_Amendm
ents.pdf
X X X
Telluride, CO
Telluride has outlawed businesses from using; polystyrene food
containers, plastic straws, single use plastic water bottles, plastic
cutlery, toothpicks wrapped in plastic, plastic cotton swabs, and single-
use condiment packets.
https://telluride.municipal.codes/TMC/7-8-10 X X X X X X X X X
Steamboat Springs, CO
Events that require a special city permit are also required are offered
finacial incentives and training to reach certain sustainability critera.
To qualify for the incentives the event must have; provided water refill
stations, use resusable, recyclable, or compostable service ware, and
provide staffed zero waste stations
https://www.steamboatsprings.net/1301/Sustainability-
Incentives
Banned Plastics
Ban or Ordinance Resource
Truckee, CA
On January 23rd, 2024 the Town of Truckee adopted the Single-Use
Plastic Bottle and Paper Carton Ordinance. The ordinance prohibits
the sale and commercial distribution of unflavored, non-carbonated
water in single-use plastic bottles and paper cartons under a gallon in
size beginning April 22, 2025.
https://www.keeptruckeegreen.org/commercial-waste-
recycling/single-use-bottle-
reduction/#:~:text=On%20January%2023rd%2C%202024%20th
e,size%20beginning%20April%2022%2C%202025.
X
Aspen, CO
Aspen did not pass an actual ordinance, but they did work with local
resteraunts to transition into providing straws only when requested
rather succesfully. Within six months they saw an 80%-90% reduction
in straw usage
file:///C:/Users/Aidan/Downloads/State-of-Recycling-and-
Composting-2023-Report_Eco-Cycle_CoPIRG_web-2.pdf X
Basalt, CO Basalt has installed water refill stations outside their town hall and
promotes the enviromental benefit of refilling reusable water bottles https://www.basalt.net/273/Drinking-Water-Filling-Station
Cities
Cape Cod, MA
In 2020 the Commercial Single-use Plastic Water Bottle Ban was
inititated in multiple Cape Cod towns which eliminated the sale of non-
carbonated, non-flavored water in single-use plastic bottles of less
than 1 gallon in size within the jurisdictional area of a town.
https://sustainablepracticesltd.org/bottle-ban
X
Cape Cod, MA
Fall of 2021, Brewster, Wellfleet, Falmouth, Harwich, Orleans and
Provincetown banned single-use plastic water bottles. Other towns
will be implemented in 2022.
https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2021/09/13/plasti
c-water-bottle-bans-take-effect-several-cape-towns-businesses-
react/5752131001/
X
Los Angeles, CA
On May 1, 2023, a ban on single-use plastics went into effect for
restaurants with permanent locations in unincorporated areas of Los
Angeles County. The ban was originally passed in April of 2022 by the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, with enforcement rolled out
based on the type of establishment. Banned: single use food service:
utensils, cups; Dine in requires durable, reusable serviceware; LA
banned polystyrene in 2022.
https://www.drinkflowater.com/blog/single-use-water-bottles-
banned-in-la/X
Denver, CO
Restaurants must provide single use service where for to go orders
exclusively upon request by the customer
https://library.municode.com/co/denver/codes/code_of_ordin
ances?nodeId=TITIIREMUCO_CH2AD_ARTXIXOFCLACSURE_DIV
3RESIEAC
X
X
X
X
X
https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/SFO-plastic-bottle-ban-
14276953.php
New York City, NY
Concord, MA
In 2016, they passed a ban on businesses to sell plastic water bottles
that hold up to 21 ounces. Violators face up to a $1000 fine.
https://recycle.ab.ca/newsletterarticle/san-francisco-becomes-
the-first-city-to-ban-sale-of-plastic-bottles/
Executive order: sales ban on single-use plastic bottles on city-owned
property or leases
https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/7/21127981/new-york-city-
single-use-plastic-bottle-ban
In 2012, they banned sales of single-serving water bottles of 1 liter or
less. First offense earns a warning, the second gets a $25 fine, third+
equals a $50 fine (this might have changed - seems outdated).
Exemption during emergencies.
San Francisco International Airport will ban the sale of water in plastic
bottles starting on Aug. 20 as part of an ongoing effort to eliminate
single-use plastic used or sold on municipal property. The airport is
owned by the city and county of San Francisco. -- can sell in aluminum,
glass or BPI certified compostable bottles.
https://concordma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2022/Water-
Bottle-Bylaw-Attorney-General-Final-Decision-PDF?bidId=
San Francisco, CA
Townships surrounding
Philidelphia
A number of townships outside of Philidelphia have instituted local
ordinances requiring straws only be provided upon request, bans on
plastic straws, bans on polystyrene containers, bans on plastic utensils,
and requiring that plastic utensils only be provided upon request.
https://environmentamerica.org/pennsylvania/resources/penn
sylvania-local-laws-reducing-plastic-waste/X X X
Cupertino, CA
Starting September 6, 2023 the city of Cupertino is outlawing single-
use plastic foodware. This includes but is not limited to, cups, plates,
bowls, trays, take-out containers, single-use carry-out bags, stir sticks,
straws, and utensils. All to-go containers are to be compostable, all
dine-in where is to be durable to compostable, and most take out
accessories must be requested for, however, there are exemptions for
drive-throughs.
https://www.cupertino.org/our-
city/departments/environment-sustainability/single-use-
plastics-ordinance
X X X X X
San Diego, CA
This ordinance bans the use of most polystyrene and states that both
fossil fuel based plastic and compostable plastic cups must only be
provided upon request.
https://www.sandiego.gov/environmental-
services/recycling/pf-ban X X
States
California
Phase out in single use plastic food packaging in 2022; Requires all
food packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2034. Banned
single use plastic water bottles and paper cartons less than one gallon
for non-carbonated, unflavored water statewide; Goes into effect
2025.
https://www.keeptruckeegreen.org/uncategorized/bye-bye-
plastic-banning-single-use-plastic-water-
bottles/#:~:text=The%20ban%20applies%20to%20non,%2C%20
2025%20(Earth%20Day).
X
Policy options
Upstream sample policy
A framework for policy restricting the use of single use plastic to go
containers provided by Upstream. This frame work was produced by
compiling experience from researching and pushing single use plastic
policy across the US in their "Skip the Stuff" campaign.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f218f677f1fdb38f06ce
bcb/t/63f625de1337184554e4cde5/1677075935103/Model+Ski
p+the+Stuff+Policy_2023.pdf
State of Waste Streams a comprehensive annual report on the state of Colorado waste
streams
file:///C:/Users/Aidan/Downloads/State-of-Recycling-and-
Composting-2023-Report_Eco-Cycle_CoPIRG_web-2.pdf
Upstream "Skip the Stuff"
campaign website
Policy toolkit website that provides information and frameworks in
how to introduce laws that help combat single use plastic entering the
waste stream.
https://upstreamsolutions.org/skipthestufftoolkit
Economic Report on the Costs of Single Use Plastics
Upstream Solutions
Reports on the costs of single use plastics and the emergence of new
reuse economy to repalce to costs of the old.
https://upstreamsolutions.org/blog/reuse-wins-report