A new bill set to be heard by a New Jersey state Senate committee later this month would prohibit food service businesses in the state from providing customers with single-use plastic utensils or condiments, except in certain limited cases.
As per the text of the bill, food service business is defined to mean a “restaurant, café, food truck, vendor station, cafeteria, or any other facility or premises, or section or part thereof, including, but not limited to, a section or part of a grocery store, convenience store, hospital, school, sports arena, entertainment venue, or other similar facility or venue, where meals are prepared and served to customers for immediate consumption thereby on or off the premises, whether on a take-out, eat-in, drive-thru, or delivery basis.”
“Single-use plastic utensils or condiments” is further defined by the bill to mean those utensils or condiment packets or packages which are composed of conventional plastics and are designed to be discarded, by the consumer, after a single use.
Specifically, the bill would provide that, commencing on its effective date,
(1) no food service business operating in the State will be authorized to provide single-use plastic utensils or condiments to any customer, except upon, and in accordance with, the express request of that customer; and
(2) a food service business that has on-site seating capacity for 50 or more customers will be required to provide its on-site customers with easy access to reusable, washable utensils that may be used thereby while consuming meals on the premises, and which are to be returned to the food service business, upon completion of the on-site meal, for the purposes of cleaning and reuse.
Any food service business that elects to supply customers with single-use plastic utensils or condiments, upon customer request, as authorized by the bill, would be additionally required to provide each customer with only those types and amounts of single-use plastic utensils and condiments that have been expressly requested by the customer.
A food service business would also be prohibited from creating, acquiring, or providing customers with bundled utensil or condiment packages that contain more than one type of single-use plastic utensil or condiment, regardless of the nature of any customer request therefor.
The bill would specify that nothing in its provisions may be deemed to:
(1) require a food service business to provide any single-use plastic utensils or condiments to customers, upon request, as authorized by the bill; or
(2) in any way restrict a food service business’ ability to provide its customers with eco-friendly alternative utensils and condiments, either on an exclusive basis or otherwise. Pursuant to definitions established in the bill, “eco-friendly alternative utensils or condiments” would include: utensils and condiment packets or packages which are composed of compostable material or another material approved, by the department or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional plastics, regardless of whether such utensils and condiment packages are designed to be discarded, by the consumer, after a single use; utensils and condiment packets or packages which are designed to be used multiple times and are not intended to be discarded after a single use, regardless of whether such utensils and condiment packages are composed of conventional plastics; and any other utensils and condiment packets or packages that are approved, by the department or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastic utensils or condiments.
Any food service business that exclusively provides its customers with eco-friendly alternative utensils and condiments would be fully exempt from compliance with the bill’s requirements.
Any non-exempt food service business that violates the bill’s provisions would be liable to a civil penalty of $1,000 for the first offense, $2,500 for the second offense, and $5,000 for the third and each subsequent offense, to be collected through a summary proceeding, and each day on which a violation occurs would constitute a separate and distinct offense.
The bill would specify, however, that no food service business will be subject to a penalty, under the bill, if it acquires, possesses, or maintains on the premises, a supply of single-use plastic utensils or condiments to provide to customers, upon request, as authorized by bill.
Any penalty collected from penalties imposed pursuant to the bill would be deposited into the “Clean Communities Program Fund” for use in financing litter pickup, removal, education, and enforcement programs at the State and local levels.
New Bill Would Bar Environmentalists From Foisting Torturous and Abusive Legislation Upon Shoppers Unless The Legislation Is Requested By Masochistic Customers Who Enjoy Self-Torture and Self-Abuse
A new bill to be introduced in the NJ state senate later this week would prohibit environmetalist whackos from proposing ridiculously abusive and insanely cumbersome legislation – like the banning of plastic utensils and plastic bags in NJ eateries & retail outlets – except in certain limited cases, where residents of a particular town enjoy being subjected to torturous and masochistic mandates that makes their lives disgustingly miserable, incredibly obnoxious and sickening, and completely unlivable.
Nutty environmentalists who violate the bill’s provisions would be liable to a civil penalty of living the rest of their lives in a sterilized recyclable plastic tank filled with trillions of paper shopping bags that rip open as soon as the smallest of objects is placed inside the bags.
The countless billions of paper bags that are confiscated as a result of the new legislation would be deposited on the doorsteps and the lawns of the whacko environmentalists who violate the bill’s provisions.
So the next time you forget to ask for plastic utencils, EAT WITH YOUR HANDS..
I would never request plastic condiments!
BRING YOUR OWN
Oh this is going to be just as effective as the no single-use plastic bags that this stupid legislature is pushing. I would think that their focus should be on MORE IMPORTANT legislature like TRUE, REAL, ENDURING PROPERTY TAX RELIEF.
And what about all the plastic bubble packaging that most of the items you buy are sealed in? I just bought a digital thermometer and it came in thick plastic and cardboard package, which will go into the landfill and take decades to break down.
I actually fully support this law.
90% of the time I specifically request utensils &/or condiments at some of our wonderful food establishments & they’re still missing.
Frustrated, I looked into this problem & the conclusion I discovered is businesses make their profit a nickel here & a dime there. So giving away utensils eats (no pun intended) into their bottom line.
One owner told me it’s literally the difference between going to Orlando for Pesach or staying home & being labeled a “Loser”
Another owner cried how giving away utensils cut down on his ability to give as much tsedaka as in the past & he hasn’t received his usual Aliyah on Rosh Hashanah in 3 years!
Yet another owner decried his son’s Yeshiva immediately removing his name from the building upon hearing rumors there may be a reduction in his annual donation (all due to the utensil crisis).
Sometimes we need utensils & have no other choice. But, please fellow Yidden request utensils & condiments as little as possible. You may just be saving a Yiddishe family from embarrassment, poverty & a lack of Shidduchim.
Another fascistic law from the fascistic democrats, but keep voting for the democrats as they pass more and more laws to restrict our rights and make thinks more inconvenient and more restrictive.