Calistoga foodware mandate to take effect this month as Napa County committee mulls sweeping measure

As a Napa County committee recently punted a decision on mandating reusable, compostable foodware, a similar ordinance is set to go in effect in Calistoga later this month.

The Climate Action Committee on Feb. 23 delayed action on a proposed measure and moved the item to its next meeting, March 22. The ordinance — which would be forwarded to Napa County’s jurisdictions for individual adoption — would essentially phase out the local use of single-use plastic and polystyrene by food retailers.

Those who sell food for retail consumption, such as nonprofits and businesses, would instead be required to use compostable materials.

But David Morrison, Napa County’s special projects director, noted at the Feb. 23 meeting that the draft ordinance is largely based on a similar law adopted by the Calistoga City Council last year. That will require all food providers in the city to use reusable or compostable foodware and accessories after March 20.

Morrison said Calistoga is one of about 120 California jurisdictions that have adopted similar ordinances. In part, he said, that’s being pushed by Senate Bill 54, which passed in 2022 and requires all packaging material in California to be recyclable or compostable by 2032.

There’s a ramp-up period to that, too: by 2028, 30% of plastic packaging must be recyclable, increasing to 40% in 2030 and 65% in 2032.

One change from the Calistoga ordinance to the county draft, though, is to allow for some restaurants to use compostable utensils and foodware — made from material such as bamboo or wood — instead of reusable. Morrison said that is because not all food vendors have commercial dishwashers available to continually wash the utensils.

The second change is that the draft ordinance as written doesn’t impose a 25-cent fee on customers for the use of non-disposable, recyclable bags as the Calistoga one does.

Committee member Kevin Eisenberg — who is also a Calistoga City Council member — said at the meeting the rollout of the Calistoga ordinance has involved considerable outreach and education efforts over the past year, and a similar push would be needed throughout the rest of the county.

“It’s been a yearlong process teaching the restaurants, the vendors, how to do this,” he said. “The customers need to learn, there is so much education needed.”

Public commenters generally said they were supportive of the county’s draft ordinance but mentioned a few problems.

Bob Figoni, a volunteer with climate advocacy group Napa Climate Now!, said the proposal doesn’t go far enough. He recommended mandating the use of strictly reusable — not compostable — materials for those dining in and prohibiting plastic bottles at events held on local government property and in vending machines.

Kevin Miller, the city of Napa’s recycling manager, said he supported the ordinance as a private citizen, “because it embodies everything I believe in in terms of reduce, reuse, recycle.” But, in his official capacity, he said he worried how enforcement would work.

“You have to really go in with open eyes and understand the complexity, the enforcement method, the cost of enforcement and the unintended consequences,” Miller said.

Committee member Billy Summers said he was open to stricter standards, such as an added dollar fee on single-use bags. He said there’s an important educational component to the ordinance and it shouldn’t be overly softened.

“If it’s not compostable or recyclable, we don’t want it in the valley, and we don’t want it on our planet, and we don’t want it on our earth,” Summers said. “To get radical change, it takes radical solutions.”

Board chair Liz Alessio said she liked several of the ideas brought up at the meeting, but she was concerned about the impact single-use fees could have on extremely low-income earners.

She suggested that additional ideas and suggestions could be included as addendums that each Napa County jurisdiction could consider, but wouldn’t be part of the draft ordinance.

Alessio compared the situation to the upheaval when smoking bans gradually went into effect, saying that behavioral change needed to happen alongside education.

“Now there’s no smoking, period,” Alessio said. “And so there’s the outreach and education, but there’s a lot of behavior change that needs to happen, and it needs a push, and it does need strong legislation to do that.”

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.