Chapter 7.05
Disposable Food Containers

Sections:
7.05.010          Definitions
7.05.020          Food Packaging Prohibitions - Disposable Food Service Ware
7.05.030          Exceptions
7.05.040          Enforcement
7.05.050          Effective Date

FAQs
Letter to Restaurants

7.05.010          Definitions
      “City Facilities” means any building, structure or vehicle owned, leased or operated by the City of Laguna Beach, its agents, agencies, departments and franchisees.
     “Customer” means any person obtaining prepared food or beverages from a restaurant or retail food vendor.
     “Disposable food service ware” means all single-use disposable products for serving or transporting prepared food or beverages, including without limitation takeout foods and/or leftovers from partially consumed meals prepared by a restaurant or food vendor.  Disposable food service ware includes containers, bowls, plates, trays, cartons, ice chests, lids, straws, forks, spoons, knives, and other items and utensils.
     “Food vendor” means any restaurant or retail food vendor located or operating within the City of Laguna Beach.
     “Non-Recyclable Plastic” refers to any plastic that cannot be feasibly recycled by a municipal recycling program in the State of California, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene.
      “Polystyrene foam” means and includes blown polystyrene and expanded and extruded forms (sometimes called Styrofoam, a Dow Chemical Co. trademarked form of polystyrene foam insulation), which are thermoplastic petrochemical materials utilizing a styrene monomer and processed by any number of techniques, including without limitation fusion of polymer spheres (expandable bead polystyrene), injection molding, foam molding and extrusion-blown molding (extruded foam polystyrene).  Polystyrene foam is generally used to make cups, bowls, plates, trays, clamshell containers, meat trays, egg cartons, and ice chests.
     “Prepared food” means food or beverages served, packaged, cooked, chopped, sliced, mixed, brewed, frozen, squeezed or otherwise prepared on the food vendor’s premises or within the City of Laguna Beach.  Prepared food may be eaten either on or near the premises, also known as “takeout food.”
     “Recyclable food packaging” means any food packaging including glass, cans, cardboard, paper, or other items which can be recycled, salvaged, composted, processed, or marketed by means other than land filling or burning, whether as fuel or otherwise so that they can be returned to use by society.
     “Restaurant” means any establishment located within the City of Laguna Beach that sells prepared food for consumption on, near or off its premises by customers.  Restaurants for purposes of this Chapter includes itinerant restaurants, pushcarts and vehicular food vendors as those terms are defined in Chapters 7.04.
     “Retail Food Vendor” means any store, shop, sales outlet or other establishment, including a grocery store or a delicatessen, other than a restaurant, located within the City of Laguna Beach that sells prepared food.

7.05.020          Food Packaging and Sales Prohibitions for Disposable Food Service Ware
      (A)  Retail food vendors are prohibited from dispensing prepared food or beverages to customers in disposable food service ware made from expanded polystyrene foam or non-recyclable plastic.

      (B)  Retail food vendors are prohibited from retail sales of expanded polystyrene foam or non-recyclable plastic products used as disposable food service ware.

      (C)  All city facilities, city-managed concessions, city-sponsored events, city- permitted events and all franchisees, contractors and vendors doing business with the City are prohibited from using disposable food service ware made from expanded polystyrene or non-recyclable plastic within the City of Laguna Beach.

      (D)   The prohibitions set forth in this section shall not apply to containers, plates or trays for raw, butchered meats, fish and/or poultry sold from a butcher case or similar retail appliance.

7.050.030        Exceptions     
(A)  The City Manager or his/her designee may exempt a food vendor or retail food vendor from the requirements of this Chapter for a one-year period, upon a showing by the applicant that the conditions of this Chapter would cause undue hardship.  An “undue hardship” may consist of:

      (1) Situations unique to the food provider where there are no reasonable alternatives to expanded polystyrene or non-recyclable plastic food service ware and compliance with this Chapter would cause a severe economic hardship to that food provider;

      (2) Situations where no reasonably feasible available alternative exists to a specific and necessary expanded polystyrene or non-recyclable plastic.

      (B)  A food provider granted an exemption must reapply prior to the end of the one-year exemption period and demonstrate continued undue hardship, if it wishes to have the exemption extended.  Extensions may only be granted for intervals not to exceed one year.

      (C)  An exemption application shall include all information necessary for the making of a decision on the application, including, not limited to documentation showing the factual support for the claimed exemption.  The applicant may be required to provide additional information to permit the determination of facts regarding the exemption application

      (D)  An exemption application may be approved in whole or in part, with or without conditions.

      (E)  The City Manager or his/her designee may also determine to exempt from the requirements of this Chapter the procurement of supplies or services in the event of a proclaimed emergency or when otherwise deemed necessary by the City Manager for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety or general welfare.

7.05.040          Enforcement and Notice of Violations
      (A)  The City Manager or his/her designee shall have primary responsibly for enforcement of this ordinance and shall have authority to issue citations for violation of this Chapter.  The City Manager or his/her designee is authorized to establish regulations or administrative procedures and to take any and all actions reasonable and necessary to further the purposes of this chapter or to obtain compliance with this chapter, including, without limitation inspection of any vendor’s premises to verify compliance in accordance with applicable law.

      (B)  Anyone violating or failing to comply with any of the requirements of this chapter or of any regulation or administrative procedure authorized by it shall be guilty of an infraction.

      (C)  The City Attorney may seek legal, injunctive, or any other relief to enforce this Chapter and any regulation or administrative procedure authorized hereby.

      (D)  The remedies and penalties provided in this Chapter are cumulative and not exclusive of one another.

      (E)  Administrative Remedies.

      (1) For the first violation, the City Manager or his/her designee, upon determination that a violation of this chapter has occurred, shall issue a written warning notice in the form of a Courtesy Citation to the food provider that will specify the violations and the appropriate penalties in the event of future violation.

      (2) A fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation following the issuance of a warning notice.

      (3) A fine not exceeding two hundred dollars ($200) for the second violation following the issuance of a warning notice.

      (4) A fine not exceeding $500 for the third and any subsequent violation that occurs following the issuance of a warning notice.

      (5) Fines are cumulative and each day that a violation occurs shall constitute a separate violation.

7.05.050          Effective Date

Frequently Asked Questions