A United Nations study estimates 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used annually, and the nonprofit Eco-cycle estimates 500 million straws are used in the U.S. each day. Now, Orlando and its contractors will no longer use items such as plastic straws, bags, cutlery and Styrofoam food containers and cups at city parks and venues. Citing environmental benefits including the reduction of millions of pieces of trash flowing into landfills and the waterways, commissioners unanimously signed off on the policy.
The policy has been in the works since it was a popular inclusion in the city’s Community Sustainability Action Plan last year. Plastic straws will be available upon request for customers with disabilities, and gatherings like family reunions and birthday parties with fewer than 100 participants will be exempt, though encouraged to comply. The move was applauded by supporters at City Hall.
Orlando says it’s the state’s first city to ban all three of plastic bags, straws and polystyrene, though other cities have banned some of the products. “It’s one of these areas that as a city we strive to lead in, so other governments follow,” Mayor Buddy Dyer said. Last month, Sierra Club lobbyist Jen Hensley called the proposed policy “pretty innovative” in that the city was regulating itself but said she found the most effective crackdown across the nation included a fee imposed on plastic usage.