Seattle becomes first major US city to ban plastic straws and utensils

Restaurants flouting the new rules face a $250 fine

Restaurants across Seattle are required to provide compostable or recyclable alternatives to single-use plastic straws and utensils (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Seattle has become the first major city in the US to implement a ban on single-use plastic straws and utensils, in an effort to create a public dialogue about environmental conservation.

The ban has been a long time coming for the city in Washington state: at least 150 restaurants began participating in the “Strawless in Seattle” campaign last year, reducing the number of plastic straws entering the waste system by 2.3 million.

As of Sunday, the rest of Seattle’s nearly 5,000 restaurants were required to begin providing compostable or paper straws and utensils to consumers.

The ban imposes a $250 (£190) fine on restaurants in violation of the new rules, but Seattle Public Utilities spokeswoman Ellen Pepin-Cato told The Seattle Times that the goal for the rest of the year was “continuing outreach and assistance to businesses to help them come into compliance, rather than enforcement".

There are some exceptions to the ban, however. Flexible plastic straws can still be provided to customers who require them for medical reasons. Restaurants can also continue providing plastic straws to customers for dine-in or takeout meals, so long as they are recyclable.

If restaurants were unable to use the entirety of plastic straws and utensils in their possession prior to Sunday, they may call the Seattle Public Utilities department to set up a "compliance schedule".

Seattle has been working to reduce single-use plastic and Styrofoam waste for nearly a decade, banning Styrofoam packaging from the city's food industry in 2009.

The city also mandated all single-use food service items be “recyclable or compostable” a year earlier, The Seattle Times reported, but plastic straws and utensils were exempt from that legislation.

The Lonely Whale Foundation, an environmental conservation group which launched the “Strawless in Seattle” initiative, recommends using alternatives to single-use plastic food items, including glass, bamboo, paper, metal, silicone and steel.

Seattle is not the only city placing importance on environmental conservation, however.

Large cities like New York and San Francisco are considering similar bans, while the UK is set to become the first nation banning single-use plastic straws.