These are the real criminals, not those people who mass-loot stores
In an effort to reduce plastic use, New York will start fining restaurants and third-party delivery services that provide disposable utensils, soy sauce packets, and similar items without the customer requesting them.
In late June, New York City announced plans to implement its new “Skip the Stuff” bill, which aims to reduce plastic use by fining restaurants and delivery services handing out unsolicited plastic items like ketchup and cutlery.
Food vendors and delivery services have a moment to adapt. Actual fines won’t start being handed out until July of 2024, and until then, violators will only receive warnings, Bloomberg reports.
How will The Authorities know? Will they run sting operations? Will they request patrons snitch when they are given plastic forks and condiments? They are counting on 3rd party delivery services to snitch, for one thing. Usually the bags are sealed. Will the delivery snitches open your bag?
With the popularity of takeout and delivery steadily rising, this new rule is arriving at an opportune time. It will encourage businesses and consumers to be more conscious about plastic use habits and hopefully curtail the impact of single-use plastic on the environment.
The environment stands a lot to gain, too. That little packet of hot sauce or singular plastic spoon might seem harmless, but over half of the plastic utensils wind up being tossed out instead of recycled. Many end up in our waterways, contaminating some sources of water and harming marine wildlife.
Well, on one hand, that’s not bad, because single use plastic is an real environmental issue and is rarely recycled, polluting the land and waters. But, guess what’s next
Additionally, the mere production of such items causes pollution. In fact, creating one ton of plastic cutlery results in roughly 1,350 to 3,800 more pounds of harmful carbon pollution than disposable wooden cutlery.
The fines will range from $50 to $250 for restaurants, food delivery and third-party courier services.
