Editorial: Bad timing on plastics ban?

It seemed like a good idea at the time: Phase out the environment-harming disposable plastic serviceware like forks, knives, spoons and straws. A bill to do just that passed the City Council and was signed into law by Mayor Kirk Caldwell last December, when the coronavirus was just a rumor. The deadline to comply was set at Jan. 1, 2021, a whole year away.

But what a year it’s been. Dozens of restaurants closed permanently, unable to survive as the coronavirus shuttered their dining rooms. The ones still standing — and barely, at that — are those that switched to or ramped up the takeout/delivery model, which uses the very plasticware that will be outlawed in a little over a month.

The Hawaii Food Industry Association and members of the Hawaii Restaurant Association make a reasonable case for postponing implementation until March 31. Those restaurants that haven’t already converted may have larger-than-expected stocks due to the unforeseen and dramatic slowdown in business. Acceptable replacements are more expensive and may be harder to get. And the pandemic shows no signs of fading any time soon. It’s just not a good time.

Certainly, banning the plasticware makes environmental sense. These single-use, disposable products not only are wasteful; they also live forever, getting into land and ocean, breaking down in the ocean, ending up in the bellies of seabirds and the fish we eat. And the utensil ban is just part of the larger law: By Jan. 1, 2022, foam or other plastic plates, bowls and other foodware would be banned as well.

Keeping these cheap, mass-produced, forever- polluting products out of Hawaii’s environment makes good sense. But it’s hard to see how a three-month delay in implementation of the first phase would cause significant harm to the law’s long-term goals, assuming the industry makes good-faith efforts to comply and does not attempt to skirt the law entirely.

The law allows for hardship exemptions, but the rules required to implement them haven’t been completed. So it’s likely businesses will have no way to petition for help before Jan. 1, when they will be in violation of the law.

The city says the law won’t be enforced immediately — a three- to four-month education campaign will come first. That’s nice, but it’s not a proper legal shield that can protect a business at risk of up to $1,000 in fines for noncompliance.

If relief is needed, it should be provided within the boundaries of the law — and for a strictly limited time.