Los Angeles City Council Approves Landmark Initiative to Phase Out Single-Use Plastics at City Facilities and City Events
The initiative from Councilmembers O’Farrell, Krekorian and Koretz precedes a requested citywide ban on polystyrene products
LOS ANGELES (April 27, 2022) – The Los Angeles City Council today unanimously approved an initiative from Council President Pro Tempore Mitch O’Farrell, Councilmember Paul Krekorian and Councilmember Paul Koretz to phase-out single use plastics at City facilities and City events, followed by a request to the City Attorney to implement a citywide ban on polystyrene products.
“Today’s vote is another historic milestone on our journey to a plastics-free future,” said Councilmember O’Farrell, Chair of the Los Angeles City Council’s Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Justice and Los Angeles River Committee. “By first phasing out single-use plastics at City facilities and City events, we are leading by example and setting the table for a citywide polystyrene ban. It’s time to double down on a cleaner, greener Los Angeles.”
“The world is drowning in plastic waste. It chokes our waterways and pollutes our neighborhoods. Microplastic particles infiltrate our food supply, the air we breathe and the water we drink,” said Councilmember Krekorian. “At this point, each of us ingests enough microplastic every week to make a new credit card. Today, Los Angeles is once again taking the lead in defense of our environment. We’re leading by example by committing to zero waste policies in the operation of the City, and we’re moving forward with some of the boldest local ordinances in the country to reduce single-use plastic waste. There is no time left to lose. We must break our society’s addiction to the single-use plastics that are killing the planet.”
“Today we take another step forward towards ending toxic plastic pollution,” said Councilmember Koretz. “Styrofoam, for example, has no market for recycling. After one use, the only thing it does is become a choking hazard for birds and fish. The Styrene in Styrofoam even makes its way into our bodies by leaching into food, and can impact our health. It is time to end another dangerously bad habit.”
“Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment is a proud partner in local efforts to remove single-use plastics from our waste streams, and we thank Councilmembers O’Farrell, Krekorian, and Koretz for their perseverance and leadership in tackling these issues,” said Barbara Romero, Director and General Manager for Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment. “With today’s historic vote to phase out single-use plastics at City facilities and events, LA Sanitation and Environment stands ready to implement and educate Angelenos about this latest policy that moves us closer to a plastics-free future.”
In addition to phasing out single-use plastics and creating a Zero Waste policy for City facilities and City-sponsored events, the Council also instructed the City Attorney to draft an ordinance that will ban polystyrene products – styrofoam carryout containers, for example – on a citywide basis and expand the City’s prohibition on single-use carry out plastic bags, which went into effect in 2013. All three ordinances will require environmental analysis, as well as a budget allocation to carry out this work in the upcoming fiscal year.
Today’s action builds on all three Councilmembers’ past work to address the harmful effects of plastic pollution, including the passage of a straws-on-request ordinance in 2019 and last year’s utensils-on-request ordinance, which went into effect for all food and beverage facilities in Los Angeles on Earth Day 2022.
State leaders and environmental advocates celebrated today’s historic vote, which moves Los Angeles closer to a plastics-free future and reflects similar initiatives being considered at the State level.
“Plastic waste is a global crisis that threatens oceans, animals, the environment, and public health. It’s also hitting cities, who have a waste management crisis on their hands. The City Council’s action today is an important step in addressing the urgent financial challenges and environmental disasters caused by plastic pollution,” said State Senator Ben Allen, who chairs the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and the California Legislative Environmental Caucus.
“The Los Angeles City Council is leading us in the right direction regionally and globally by cutting pollution and plastic waste,” said Andrea León-Grossmann, Climate Action Director for Azul. “Eliminating plastic waste is a key part of ensuring we stop creating sacrifice zones and enabling polluters while also disrupting environmental racism. By banning polystyrene — a transparent synthetic resin used for plastics — and enforcing the plastic bag ban, the city is working to cut back on the extraction of fossil fuels and helping stop the cycle of plastics that profoundly affect the health of low-income and communities of color.”
“We commend the strong collaborative leadership exhibited today by the Los Angeles City Council, LA Sanitation and Environment, the Bureau of Sanitation, and the Department of General Services, for taking bold and innovative steps to eliminate single-use plastics waste from our neighborhoods, waterways, and the ocean, through taking significant action to develop effective plastics waste reduction ordinances and comprehensive Zero Waste plans and procedures for City facilities and events,” said Craig Cadwallader, speaking on behalf of the Surfrider Foundation and the Reusable LA Coalition.
“The hard-working owners of restaurants like Maury’s in Silver Lake and Malbec in Eagle Rock want to leave their children a legacy; they don’t want that to be a world full of styrofoam and plastic,” said Natalie Freidberg, President of the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Reusable LA Coalition.
