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SLO IWMA seeking countywide Styrofoam ban

May 9, 2018

The San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority board will consider a plan to enact a countywide ban on Styrofoam food containers on Wednesday. [Cal Coast Times]

Five of the seven cities in SLO County — Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo — have already enacted their own Styrofoam bans. The city of SLO was the first to enact a Styrofoam ban, having adopted an ordinance in June 2016. Most recently, Grover Beach adopted a ban, doing so in January of this year.

Each of the existing ordinances ban restaurants and stores from providing food in Styrofoam containers. Instead, businesses must provide recyclable, biodegradable or compostable food containers. Likewise, the ordinances prohibit the use of Styrofoam food containers at government facilities and bar government contractors from using them.

In March, the IWMA board directed staff to prepare a discussion on a countywide rule banning Styrofoam. Additionally, last month, the Atascadero City Council directed its city manager to send a letter supporting a countywide ordinance.

As currently envisioned, a countywide ordinance would be similar to the existing regulations that SLO County cities have adopted, and it would not preempt the local rules. Rather it would apply regulations in the five existing ordinances to Atascadero and Paso Robles, as well as to the unincorporated areas of the county.

Under a countywide Styrofoam ordinance, there would be shared enforcement responsibilities. IWMA staffers would be responsible for initial outreach and education of the public, investigating complaints and contacting offending restaurants or stores. If a business would continue to violate the ordinance after a visit by the IWMA, the agency would turn over enforcement to the local jurisdiction.

If the board instructs IWMA staff on Wednesday to prepare an ordinance, the first reading of the regulations would take place at the waste management board’s Sept. 12 meeting. Final adoption of the Styrofoam ban would be slated for Nov. 14.

Currently, about 115 California cities or counties have Styrofoam ordinances, according to the IWMA. Of those regulations, 13 apply to government facilities only and 24 include the retail sale of products.


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Every day in California we lose another item… This week (so far) all new homes in California MUST have solar installed (COST: $12,000 – $15,000) and when you need to replace that roof you can pay again; SLO, food industry cannot use styrofoam (COST: $5,000 – $20,000) and if it is dangerous, what about all the packing we are getting in our new purchases. I DO NOT WANT TO BE CHARGED FOR PEOPLE’S TAKEOUT CONTAINERS, SO, BUSINESSES NEED TO CHARGE A CUSTOMER A FEE FOR “THEIR” TAKEOUT CONTAINER(s)… Thank you, Mayor Tom O’Malley and John Harmon for screwing the small struggling businesses in Atascadero and Paso Robles. I will be happy to see Tom O’Malley Dictatorship come to in end and off the Council soon you gutless fools, then we can work on John Harmon.


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The requirement to place solar panels has an ongoing property tax expense too and the less we use from the grid the more we will pay here so that the crappy places to live will pay less. Speaking of crappy, I certainly believe we’ve gone to far with disposables especially when they are not truly disposable. Last week I had to take my shop vac to a rental cuz the tenant plugged the toilet with butt wipes, they are not disposable and will kill the septic tank. Maybe they should outlaw butt wipes too. I like it, just call all of these products that clog our world “butt wipes”.


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Here’s a question, why do we need a “San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority board”? why can’t this be something the Board of Supervisors does and eliminate another government drain on the taxpayers?


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Because they each get $100 for attending meetings.


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About time.


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What will the convicted drunk drivers have left to pick up on the side of the road then? Plastic bags and now Styrofoam are being eliminated!! Thank god for disposable diapers–or they’d have nothing left to put in an orange bag.


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Convicted drunk drivers will no longer be required to pick up any trash on side of road – this would be ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment. And you just have to know that could not be allowed to happen in SLO county – unless you have mental issues – then the Sheriff will take care of you.


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