A House committee rejected legislation that, if passed, would have required restaurants and food delivery services to ask customers if they want single-use items, such as utensils and condiments, instead of providing them automatically.

The committee unanimously voted to indefinitely postpone House Bill 1134 on Wednesday following an hour and a half of testimony from dozens of witnesses, who all support the bill. Bill sponsor Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, requested the indefinite postponement after she successfully moved to effectively water the measure down by removing the state’s ability to enforce the proposed policy.

“What does a bill really do if it doesn’t do anything?” Titone asked. “We’ll talk about this a little bit more next time. Maybe we can come up with something a little bit better that works for everyone.”

Titone said the bill didn’t have enough support from committee members to pass even with the amendment to remove enforcement authority. During the meeting, Rep. Kevin Van Winkle — who was the only one to speak against the bill — questioned whether it is necessary if restaurants have economic incentives to implement the policy on their own. 

Supporters said, by making customers request single-use items, the bill would limit the environmental impact of plastic utensils, napkins and condiment packets, while also saving restaurants money on unwanted meal accessories that are thrown away or abandoned in kitchen drawers. 

Bill to mandate industry-paid recycling poised to surface in Colorado House

Titone said she received no opposition to the bill during her outreach process. No entity registered in opposition to the bill and several organizations spoke in favor of it, including Colorado Communities for Climate Action, the League of Women Voters of Colorado, Small Business Majority and the Colorado Public Interest Research Group.

“I’m disappointed (the bill was killed) after such broad support,” said Danny Katz, executive director of the research group. “It’s good for restaurants’ bottom lines, it’s good for customer experiences, it’s good for the environment.”

The Colorado Restaurant Association also worked with the bill sponsors to develop the legislation, saying it maintained a neutral position during Wednesday’s committee meeting.

“We feel this policy strikes a reasonable balance with its intent to focus on limiting waste without creating undue hardship for the (restaurant) industry,” said Mollie Steinemann, government affairs manager of the Colorado Restaurant Association.

The bill’s failure comes after Denver passed an identical policy to limit single-use meal accessories in May 2021. The policy — nicknamed “Skip the Stuff” and “Cut Out Cutlery” — has also been implemented statewide in California and nationally by the food delivery companies Uber Eats, Postmates, Grubhub and DoorDash.

Title Board advances ballot initiatives on criminalizing abortion, expanding ‘natural medicine’

In California, the policy has resulted in savings of between $3,000 and $20,000 for restaurants, Titone said. Postmates reported that its adoption of the policy saved 122 million packs of plastic cutlery since October 2019 — an estimated $3.2 million in savings for restaurants.

Multiple restaurant owners testified Wednesday that the bill would give them a needed push to implement the policy and would level the playing field to assure restaurants that implement it individually don’t suffer negative reviews from customers. Numerous speakers also emphasized the environmental benefits of the bill.

“This bill is needed now,” said Randy Mormon representing EcoCycle and Recycle Colorado. “Since the pandemic began, we’ve all ordered more takeout and the increase in takeout means we’re taking in a lot more of this disposable stuff.”

The environmental organizations estimate that 250,000 tons of food service items are distributed annually in Colorado alone, Mormon said, adding that most of these items are single-use and not recyclable.

In the United States, nearly 36 million tons of plastic waste is generated annually and around 75% goes to landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The International Solid Waste Association estimates single-use plastic consumption has grown by 250% to 300% in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic — which can be partially attributed to increasing use of food delivery and to-go ordering.

Colorado House passes bill for inspections of funeral homes, crematories