ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — The city of Ormond Beach is considering an ordinance that would ban single use plastic straws and stirrers.
Here are five things you should know about the potential ban:
- STRAW AND STIR BAN: The ban will apply to restaurants, businesses, city property and events on city property.
- PENALTIES: While the ordinance originally included a penalty for breaking the ban, the commission decided to do away with it at the first reading last week.
"We had on there that there would be a penalty if you violated the ordinance, but I decided people might think that's a little punitive, and I certainly don't want any residents to think that we are trying to micromanage or control them, so we all decided as a commission that we would just encourage," said Commissioner Susan Persis, a driving force behind the ordinance. "We want to set the example on city property, on city events, and hope that the residents of Ormond Beach would realize that this is a great thing to do and they would follow suit".
- EDUCATION: Educational sessions will be included in the ordinance.
"Part of our ordinance is that we would have an educational program for the city of Ormond Beach to start letting the residents know the dangers of single use plastics, how harmful they are to the environment and to marine life and we would have a series of educational programs that citizens could attend so that they would you know see the benefits of not using single use plastics," said Persis.
- OTHER PLASTICS: Eventually, Persis hopes to expand the ban to include styrofoam and plastic bags. However, she hopes people take steps to get rid of them on their own.
"We just want the public to be aware that we need to start looking at alternatives to single use plastic," said Persis.
- LONG TERM GOAL: Commissioner Persis says their goal is to have the city completely free of all single-use plastics by Earth Day 2021.
According to Persis, several restaurants such as Tipsy Taco, Beach Bucket, Stonewood Tavern and Rose Villa are supporting the ban and have already made changes to move away from single use.
The next reading of the ordinance will be on August 20. It will them be voted on at the September 4 meeting, where Persis is hopeful it will pass.