Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Delray Beach could ban plastic straws
Delray Beach restaurant patrons may have only 18 more months to order a drink with a soon-to-bebanned item inside: a plastic straw.
By mid-2020, there would be no more plastic straws served in the city’s restaurants and bars, although reusable and biodegradable sippers would be allowed.
The straw ban, which would be the first of its kind in Palm Beach County, was initially approved this week and is scheduled for a final vote next month. Delray Beach is the latest in a wave of South Florida cities that have begun rejecting the sturdy menaces, which are imper-
iling marine life as they are casually tossed in to oceans and rivers.
“Automatically giving out a straw is wasteful,” said City Commissioner Bill Bathurst, who voted in favor of the new law. “The options are out there. I love it when smart entrepreneurs solve problems.”
Delray Beach will join Hallandale Beach, which started its ban this month, Deerfield Beach, where the ban begins in April, and Fort Lauderdale, where there will be no more publicly served straws a year from now. Across the country, cities and companies are committing to the straws’ elimination. American Airlines, Starbucks, Disney and McDonald’s have all begun phaseouts. Plastic straws comprise only about 4 percent of plastic waste. But they have proven a vexing problem, according to the Delray Beach sustainability office: “Because straws are very small and lightweight, they cannot be recycled, are easily blown out of garbage cans and trucks into the streets and storm water systems, and they pose a risk to sea animals.”
In Delray Beach, city officials expect most restaurants to switch over to paper straws, and many have already done so.
Dan Sobey, general manager at City Oyster, began offering paper straws a month ago, and only serves them at a customer’s request.
“Not one customer has pulled me aside to voice a complaint,” he said.
Death or Glory Bar has been serving paper straws since last summer, and Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub stopped using plastic a year ago.
“I got a little bit of pushback, but not as much as I thought I would,” Tim Finnegan’s manager Lisa Walsh said.
She said paper straws are more expensive: They cost $95 for 4,800, while plastic costs $50 for 5,000.
“I think those prices will level off as more people use paper,” she said.
The law exempts hospitals, people with medical disabilities, convenience stores and Palm Beach County School District properties.
The city is not planning to fine establishments that don’t comply, but instead will issue “continual warnings” if they keep serving up the plastic.
Rocco’s Tacos eliminated plastic straws and plastic cocktail stirrers six months ago. Founder Rocco Mangel said his nine restaurants, including one in Delray Beach, have also switched over to to-go bags and containers made of paper. He said some customers have complained that the paper straws start to break down when they sit in a drink too long. He has mastered a comeback for this peeve: “I tell them to drink faster.”