As Glendale emerges from the pandemic, the community has an opportunity to return to normalcy in a more sustainable fashion. To do so, the City adopted an ordinance that would require food and beverage providers located within the City of Glendale – including restaurants, bars, and convenience stores – to have customers ask for accessory foodware items, such as spoons, forks, knives, napkins, straws, and other items, before receiving them. The ordinance applies to third party delivery services, online orders, as well as dine-in, drive through, and take out customers.

The ordinance requires that food and beverage facilities:

1. Not provide any Disposable Foodware Accessories without a customer request;
2. Provide that customers “opt-in” to receive disposable foodware accessories with online and takeout orders;
3. Ask a drive-through customer or delivery customer if the customer wants any disposal foodware accessories;
4. Choose whether to provide specific disposable foodware accessories to a drive-through, take-out, or delivery customer to prevent spills or for safe transport or delivery of a prepared food or beverage, such as cup lids, cup sleeves, and beverage trays, even without a customer request.

Ordinance No. 5973 of the City of Glendale, adding Chapter 8.46 to Title 8 of the GMC in connection with regulations for the distribution of disposable food ware accessories can be viewed here.

For any questions regarding the ordinance please contact the Office of Sustainability at 818-548-4844 or email Sustainability@Glendaleca.gov.

By regulating the distribution of these items, we can reduce costs to businesses, reduce the amount of plastic in the waste stream, and reduce litter in our community. To stay informed about the proposed ordinance, visit glendaleca.gov/foodware.