York may become the first town in Maine to ban single-use plastic utensils and straws.
Residents will vote Saturday on an ordinance drafted by high school students, local restaurants and environmental advocates.
A group of students initially tried to bring a more expansive proposal to the ballot last summer that included a ban on plastic cups. But after hearing concerns from restaurant owners about the costs of offering alternatives — and incentivizing customers to bring their own refillable cups — the students agreed to revise the measure.
The new ordinance prohibits the sale and distribution of single-use plastic utensils, straws and stir sticks in restaurants, coffee shops and other food purveyors within the town. Restaurants with washing facilities should provide reusable food ware to their customers. Takeout restaurants, for example, would have to use compostable alternatives.
Chloe Whitbread, a 16-year-old junior at York High School, said the group that drafted the ordinance tried to weigh those concerns, and eventually realized the measure had little chance of passage unless single-use plastic cups were taken off the table.
"It's finding that balance between environmental protection and making a difference in our town, our carbon footprint and our environmental stewardship, but also making it so we're not punishing businesses," Whitbread said. "And we're not having some hardship on them, because we want our town to be economically successful."
Whitbread also said she's hopeful that even without a formal ban on plastic cups in place, residents might begin to change their behavior and consider bringing their own when they travel outside their homes.
"If we pass straws and utensils, I think that's pretty big," said Victoria Simon, a York resident who served on the committee that drafted the new plastics ordinance. "And I think that's going to reduce the amount of plastic, at least that York is responsible for, and I hope that other towns will follow suit."
Simon led efforts in York nearly 10 years ago to ban single-use plastic carryout bags and eventually polystyrene foam containers. The town became the first in Maine to do so; statewide bans on both went into effect about three years ago.
The city of Portland has prohibited the distribution of plastic straws in local food establishments, but Whitbread said she believes if it's approved, the York ordinance would be among the most comprehensive municipal plastics bans in Maine.
Whitbread is not old enough to vote on the ordinance she helped draft but said that's motivated her to encourage others to show up at the ballot box.
"I think we've done our part to try to educate, but obviously [I'm] anxious... it's three years of my life in one single day, whether it's going to pass or not," she said.
