Council Passes Bill To Eliminate Plastic Straws

As of January 2021, Food merchants will be banned from offering plastic forks, spoons, knives, straws or other utensils under this bill. In 2020, the measure will extend to cups, lids and containers.

Following many variations and a series of passionate testimonies, the Honolulu City Council official approved a ban on single-use plastics on the island of Oahu.

By a margin of 7 to 2, Bill 40 was approved Wednesday.  The two Council members to oppose were Carol Fukunaga and Ann Kobayashi.

A crowd of advocates brought their passion to the floor to testify in support of Bill 40. After the vote, this group had much to celebrate.

“It’s one of those moments that’s once in a lifetime that you’ll always remember, that I was here and we were all here, part of this movement together and it came to a great conclusion,” said Stuart Coleman of the Surfrider Foundation.

Both sides of the issue took stand before the decisionmaker to share their sides of the story, including high school students who presented a list of 1,500 people in support of the bill.

One of the students shared, “All of us here, we live in Hawaii. It’s our home, and it’s our job to take care of it.”

“Through this bill passing, it’s not going to save our problem here in Hawaii, but what it’s going to do is set an example for the rest of the world,” said supporter Ray Aivazian III.

At The Glasst Straw, we have seen the impact of single use plastic and the whiplash effect of the growing number of restaurants providing compostable and inferior quality straw. We know there’s a better solution.

Critics of the measure, where able to initiate a few changes, after voicing their concern for the bill creating confusion, increased cost and hardship on their businesses.

Lauren Zirbel, of executive director of the Hawaii Food Industry Association of Hawaii said  “Many of the definitions in this bill have problems that will make it hard for businesses to implement, and hard for the department to enforce consistently.”

Despite the pushback, the bill was passed.

The sponsor of the bill, Joey Manahan shared “It’s been a really long time. I think it’s long overdue” … “Certainly I’m just happy that things went the way they went.”

Mayor Kirk Caldwell has indicated that he will sign Bill 40.

Here at Glasst Straw, we couldn’t be prouder of the steps our local Hawaii community is taking to reduce single use plastics and provide our Kakou with a safe and responsible alternative to single use plastics.  We will be following the bill closely and provide updates as the bill moves forward. 

Let’s get it touch and chat about how you could be part of the Glasst Straw Revolution!