Berkeley proposal would force restaurants to charge 25 cents for disposable cups

Customers who want to leave a cafe in Berkeley, California, with a drink in hand may soon have to bring their own cups from home — or pay a mandatory 25-cent tax for a disposable cup.

Berkeley’s city council is set to vote Tuesday on the Disposable Foodware and Litter Reduction Ordinance, which would force restaurants, cafes and other drink sellers to charge customers 25 cents for each disposable beverage cup they need, according to a news release from the advocacy group Break Free From Plastic, which supports the proposal.

“The idea that we can just use stuff and recycle it and it’ll be rosy on the other end is just not the reality,” Councilwoman Sophie Hahn said last year as she rolled out the proposal, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “We simply have to change our relationship with disposable food ware and ultimately all disposable items.”

Other provisions in the ordinance require all dine-in foodware to be reusable and would make sure takeout foodware is compostable, according to Break Free From Plastic. The Chronicle reports that customers hoping to carry out food would also have to pay 25 cents for each container, with restaurants funneling the money raised into buying “more environmentally friendly food ware.”

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article224885555.html#storylink=cpy