Q: Do you know if Mankato has an ordinance on non-recyclable/non-compostable to-go containers? I see Minneapolis has a “Green To Go” ordinance with goals to reduce what is going to landfills and ends up in waterways.
A: Minneapolis’ “Environmentally Acceptable Packaging Ordinance,” more commonly known as “Green To Go,” governs food and beverage containers used by restaurants selling stuff for immediate consumption or for transporting to a home or workplace to eat and drink.
The ordinance doesn’t specify what containers can be used but requires they have one of three characteristics.
They can be recyclable — with the ordinance specifying plastics No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5, the most readily recycled types.
They can be made of natural materials and plastics conducive to biological decomposition in a reasonable timeframe in backyard or commercial composting sites. Specialized plastics certified as compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute are allowed as well.
Finally, they can be non-recyclable and non-compostable as long as they are reusable. To Ask Us Guy, that seems like a loophole larger than a 30-cubic-yard Dumpster. After all, almost any container could theoretically be used again for some purpose, even if the container type actually ends up in the trash 99-plus percent of the time.
But Minneapolis tightly defines what “reusable” means: “Food or beverage containers or packages, such as, but not limited to, water bottles, growlers, milk containers and bulk product packaging that are capable of being refilled at a retail location or returned to the distributor for reuse at least once as a container for the same food or beverage.”
The ordinance does include a few exemptions. The rules don’t apply to plastic straws, stir sticks and utensils. Thin plastic films like Saran Wrap are exempt, too. And health care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes, along with caterers, don’t have to abide by the regulations.
So, what all of that regulatory language boils down to — or decomposes down to — is that Minneapolis food and drink sellers can’t use some of the cheapest and most common containers when selling stuff for take-out. For instance, food and drinks can’t be put in bowls, clamshells and cups made of Styrofoam or other polystyrene plastic marked with a No. 6. And they can’t use paper cups and plates that are lined with polyethylene plastic.
Mankato, by contrast, does not regulate to-go containers, although a local organization that promotes reduction of waste — with a particular focus on eliminating plastic waste — has suggested the idea, said City Manager Susan Arntz.
“I have talked with the Mankato Zero Waste group that has brought that up,” Arntz said.
Although it would ultimately require four votes on the seven-member City Council to pass an ordinance, the debate can begin any time one or more elected officials requests it.
“They’d need the support of one or two council members (to get the topic on a meeting’s agenda),” she said.
Arntz said some local restaurants are already using recyclable, reusable or compostable containers as doggie bags or to-go containers. But for those items to be widely recycled, reused or composted, consumers need to be educated on the topic and supportive of the idea.
When it comes to encouraging compostable to-go containers, Minneapolis has a clear advantage. It provides curb-side organics recycling, so residents can just drop their compostable container from Starbucks or Chipotle or some other restaurant in their organics cart.
If Mankato passed an ordinance encouraging the use of compostable containers, consumers would need to take them to one of the two available drop-off sites — in Sibley Park and at the Public Works Center. So it’s likely many would end up in the trash anyway.
And curbside organics composting in Mankato doesn’t seem to be imminent.
“It is not an economically viable enterprise,” according to Arntz, who said the city has received discouraging reports when surveying other communities that offer it. “Partly because they have a hard time finding a place to take the material.”
A few citizens, in addition to supporting a ban of plastic take-out containers, have suggested local regulations to restrict what supermarkets and other retail stores use to package purchases at the checkout line.
“The same thing has come up about plastic bags,” Arntz said.
There is one difference there, however. Minnesota state law specifically prohibits local governments from regulating bag packaging.
Contact Ask Us at The Free Press, 418 S. Second St., Mankato, MN 56001. Call Mark Fischenich at 344-6321 or email your question to mfischenich@mankatofreepress.com; put Ask Us in the subject line.
