COM 0107.030 2016-2018 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

P!Lou ie_ft._. COUNTY CLERK U Ut . I (D/ COUNTY OF HAWAI'I Murashige, Laura RECEIVED ,�. 1�1[1C G Di From: Karen Rosen <kohalacoffeemill@gmail.com> Date �� /7 Sent: Monday, March 06, 2017 11:31 AM To: Council Testimony Cc: Richards,Tim; Kanuha, Dru; Chung,Aaron; David, Maile; Eoff, Karen; Lee Loy, Sue;Ohara, Eileen; Ruggles,Jennifer; Poindexter,Valerie; COH Mayor;Toguchi, Marcie Subject: Testimony in support of Bill 13 I have listened closely to concerns from councilman Richards and others regarding Bill 13 and the efforts to ban the use of polystyrene foam. Below are some of my thoughts as a long term resident of Hawaii Island and restaurant owner. While this bill is not perfect and will not totally limit polystyrene foam, often mis named as "Styrofoam" on Hawaii Island, I believe that the 'not a big impact' viewpoint is not a good reason to hold up the passing of this bill. From my point of view, I see a big impact in removing food containers and retail packaging, and I cannot find any unintended consequences from this action in a number of municipalities around the nation. I also understand that polystyrene foam in packaging coming into our island from outside will not be dealt with in this bill since the County has little or no jurisdiction to deal with this. But I do not believe this lack of jurisdiction in polystyrene foam should block or delay doing what we can to remove polystyrene foam in food containers and retail packaging. If we all agree that reducing polystyrene foam is important, then how can we notagree that Bill 13 is a good step forward in the right direction? Granted, it's not the final step, but it is a big step for the Big Island's environment. One of the arguments in the past against the band of polystyrene foam has been cost. It is definitely a concern for people in the industry. As a restaurant owner, I speak from experience that the cost of compostable "to-go-ware" is greater than using polystyrene foam products. However, it is pennies, the exact amount of the increase in the cost of these products varies by size and style. Usually the difference in the cost is less than a nickel, it could be as much as a quarter in some cases. Most of my customers, from all walks of life are comfortable and thankful that I choose to use compostable products. No one likes to increase their costs for serving their products. Sometimes it is these pennies that are the only profit to be made. Passing this cost on to the consumer, by raising prices less than $ .25 may be the solution. When we consider the longer term and hidden "costs" in Styrofoam from manufacturing, to disposal, to the potential effects on our bodies and the environment, the near term increase from Ib1- _ 1 Ref. Ref. Date IU9