Breckenridge implemented another stage of its plastic ban on Monday, Jan. 1, as the town gears up for full implementation in July.
On the first of the year, the entire state of Colorado banned food establishments from using Styrofoam food containers or service ware for take out in accordance with a 2019 senate bill.
For Breckenridge, this is the third to last step in the town’s plastic ban initiative. A ban for single-use plastic water bottles and single-use plastic service ware will be going into effect July 1.
According to town officials, it will be one of the first towns in Colorado to enforce such a ban.
Restaurants have seven months to get all plastic service ware out of their establishments, and Breckenridge’s parking and sustainability manager Jessie Burley said the town has been looking to keep a strong line of communication open.
She said the town looks to prepare the food and beverage industry as much as possible for this ban since there will be related fines.
“Noncompliance with the ordinance will result in a written warning on the first violation and then any subsequent violation would be $50 for the first violation, $100 for the second, and $300 for the third and each subsequent violation in that calendar year,” Burley said.
Burley explained the town modeled the fine system after that of Telluride’s, yet the Town Council members have expressed a desire for something heftier.
“The Town Council has been concerned that these penalties might not be strong enough,”
Burley said.
She said that council has asked staff to come back later in the spring to gauge how the ban of styrofoam rolled out and assess whether harsher penalties will be needed for the full plastic ban.
Many establishments were already working toward going plastic-free before the ban began rolling out, and some will be in compliance well before July.
Windy City Pizza and Pub is already on pace to keep up with the bans. Director of operations Alex Kleinerg said the spot has been working with distributors to find compostable, single-use service ware and hopes to make the switch this spring.
He said the shop’s owners were in support of this initiative, yet when it comes to typical plastic service ware versus compostable service ware “there’s a huge price difference.”
Kleinerg said, although it won’t be a substantial uptick, this increase in cost will likely lead to an increase in menu prices.
“So when we recost our menus in the spring, the increased costs will likely get factored minimally into the price of our menu,” Kleinerg said.
The Crown’s coffee shop manager Nancy Binsfeld also noted that, yes this is a great green initiative, but from a business standpoint it can be hard and costly to keep up with these bans.
Breckenridge Restaurant Association president and Fatty’s Pizzeria owner TJ Messerschmitt agreed that this transition will cost his restaurant and others. He noted compostable products are “more expensive to produce.”
“They cost us more money, plain and simple,” Messerschmitt said.
Despite that, he is in support of the plastic ban and said the town has been extremely communicative about this ban and is willing to listen to the concerns of restaurant owners.
He said there is one aspect of this ban that worries him that he thinks could have some negative impacts by summer.
“I think it’ll become a supply issue with distributors because they’re gonna run out of all this stuff,” Messerschmitt said.
He is anxious to see how supply and demand will play out among this ban when all food establishments in Breckenridge are in need of the same non-plastic material.
Burley said the town is looking to prevent issues with the supply chain by keeping distributors up-to-date on the bans.
“They’re well aware that this is taking place, and they have indicated to us that they have plenty of product available that is compliant,” Burley said.