*By Amanda Weston* Los Angeles is taking a strong stance against single-use plastic straws: the local City Council is moving forward with its "Plastic Straws on Request" initiative with an ultimate goal to phase them out completely by 2021. "This has been a long time coming," Mitch O'Farrell, Los Angeles city council member, told Cheddar Thursday. "I wish that the city had acted 10, 15 years ago." Los Angeles County currently requires all businesses serving food or drinks to ask customers if they want straws, instead of automatically providing them. The city is taking a step further ー to mandate that restaurants and fast food chains withhold straws unless a customer specifically asks for one. The council voted Tuesday to request that the City Attorney draft an ordinance that will take effect next year. On Earth Day, April 22, the new straw policy will begin at businesses with 26 employees or fewer. All restaurants will follow suit by Oct. 1. O'Farrell said L.A. is expanding on the state law, which doesn't include fast food restaurants. "What I'm doing is I'm including all fast food establishments, and what we also are doing is we're taking it one step further than just request-only," he said. O'Farrell said the response to the council's decision has been positive. “The unanimous vote sends the signal that we are serious about slowing or eliminating the detrimental effects of plastics in the environment,” O’Farrell said in a statement after Tuesday's vote. “It also serves as a motivator for the industry to act faster than the law requires and invest in environmentally sustainable products.” O'Farrell said the city was considering a plastic bag ban about a decade ago. While researching, he learned about a massive garbage patch of plastic and debris in the Pacific Ocean roughly the size of Texas. He said the patch is now the size of Alaska. O'Farrell added plastic straws are one of 10 items found on the beach every year when Heal the Bay cleans up. The straws become embedded in the riverbed. "As a coastal city I believe we have a responsibility to lead by example," O'Farrell said of L.A.'s accountability. The National Park Service reports Americans use [500 million drinking straws](https://www.nps.gov/articles/straw-free.htm) every day, enough to fill more than 125 school buses. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/los-angeles-sets-sights-on-phasing-out-single-use-plastic-straws).

Share:
More In Business
Michigan Judge Sentences Walmart Shoplifters to Wash Parking Lot Cars
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
State Department Halts Plan to buy $400M of Armored Tesla Vehicles
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
Goodyear Blimp at 100: ‘Floating Piece of Americana’ Still Thriving
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
Is U.S. Restaurants’ Breakfast Boom Contributing to High Egg Prices?
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
Load More