If you frequent local restaurants and businesses in Telluride, you may notice something missing: single-use plastic.
鈥淢ainly what鈥檚 changing is related to food service and things related to food service. But it鈥檚 not solely that,鈥� said Darin Graber, Sustainability and Grant Administrator for the Town of Telluride. 鈥淚t also applies to some things you might not expect. Toothpicks can鈥檛 be wrapped in single-use plastic, and cotton swabs with plastic stems are prohibited under this ordinance.鈥�
In 2022, the Telluride Town Council passed an ordinance to ban single-use plastic within the town, with implementation set for July 1, 2024.
Under the ordinance, single-use plastic containers, including Styrofoam cups, bowls, and plates, are prohibited. Plastic straws, cutlery, condiment packets, stirrers, and garnish spears are also banned. Additionally, single-use plastic water bottles under one gallon are not allowed. The ordinance further requires customers at restaurants and businesses to request cutlery or napkins, rather than receiving them automatically.
There are exceptions to the ordinance for fire, EMS, and law enforcement if single-use plastic is needed in an emergency situation or during a town-wide emergency or natural disaster. Single-use plastic will also be allowed for medical use.
Single-use plastic may still be seen at grocery stores in prepackaged items from large distributors or when related to food safety.
鈥淪o obviously we鈥檙e going to have milk cartons or a plastic bottle of milk. The things we need to change are the items that we鈥檙e serving over the counter. If I have a raw ingredient in my hand and I need to put it in something to give to a customer, that receptacle needs to be compostable,鈥� said Chris Jackman, store director at Clark鈥檚 Market in Telluride.
Jackson says there have been a number of changes at the store since the ban went into effect, but he鈥檚 up for the task.
鈥淚t does seem a little daunting at the beginning, especially when you start making a list of all the things that need to be changed over,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut there are a lot of suppliers that provide those items.鈥�
The main challenge, Jackman says, is getting vendors to stock items specific to Telluride.
鈥淏ecause they service a larger community. They鈥檙e servicing Telluride, Norwood, Ridgway, Montrose, and Grand Junction. So to have these niche items for Telluride can be difficult, but I haven鈥檛 talked to anyone who is not supportive of it,鈥� he said.
Jackman adds that with increased demand for eco-friendly products, he anticipates potential supply chain issues, including certain products being out of stock.
Despite the shifts or any potential challenges for the market, Jackman says he鈥檚 supportive of the ban.
鈥淭o have such a small community like Telluride be a role model for the rest of Colorado and the rest of the United States is a great move for us,鈥� he said.
But not everyone is fully convinced.
鈥淥ur business is a to-go business, and we鈥檝e been using compostable cups since we bought it in 2020,鈥� says Scott Keating, part-owner of the Coffee Cowboy. 鈥淪o for our to-go cup scene, nothing has changed.鈥�
Keating isn鈥檛 against compostable cups鈥攖he Coffee Cowboy has been using them since the beginning鈥攂ut he鈥檚 skeptical of their environmental benefit.
For compostable cups to properly break down, they require an industrial composting process鈥攕omething the Telluride region is working toward but does not yet have readily available.
Some research has shown that compostable materials can still take years to break down in a landfill, and as they do, they can emit the greenhouse gas methane.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great in theory, if we鈥檙e actually composting it,鈥� Keating says 鈥淏ut to put all that energy in to something that鈥檚 actually worse for the environment, it doesn鈥檛 make sense. At the end of the day I feel like we鈥檙e greenwashing to make ourselves feel better.鈥�
Keating isn鈥檛 against the ordinance, but he wants to see the conversation continue.
鈥淭his is a great first step. I鈥檓 not trying to sh*t on it,鈥� Keating says.
鈥淚鈥檓 trying to be a realist of if we want to think of wide scale problems and think it through, let鈥檚 not do it 20%. Let鈥檚 really think about them.鈥�
For Keating, it鈥檚 about a culture shift. To that point, Graber agrees.
鈥淭rying to really push toward a different mindset of refuse, reuse, then think about recycling, then think about everything else,鈥� says Graber. 鈥淪hifting people鈥檚 habits might seem like a big deal, but I think in a year or two it鈥檒l be so normal, and we can push to a much more sustainable lifestyle than the consumption based lifestyle we have nationally.鈥�
A national culture shift to zero waste may be a big goal, but Telluride is trying to do its part鈥攐ne cup at a time.
Copyright 2024 .
This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico.