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HAWAII FOOD INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
1050 Bishop St. PMB 235 1
Honolulu, HI 96813
P 808-533-1292 1 e:
info(a)hawaiifood.com
Executive Officers
Kit Okimoto, Okimoto Corp., Chair
Jayson Watts, Mahi Pono, Vice Chair
Jill Tamura, Tamura Super Market, Secretary/Treasurer
Lauren Zirbel, HFIA, Executive Director
Paul Kosasa, ABC Stores, Advisor
Derek Kurisu, KTA Superstores, Advisor
Toby Taniguchi, KTA Superstores, Advisor
Joe Carter, Coca-Cola Bottling of Hawaii, Advisor
Eddie Asato, Pint Size Hawaii, Advisor
Gary Okimoto, Safeway, Advisor
TO: County Council, County of Hawai'i
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FROM: HAWAII FOOD INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
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Lauren Zirbel, Executive Director
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DATE: November 19, 2025
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RE: Relating to Bill 83 Draft 2
Position: Comments
The Hawai'i Food Industry Association is comprised of two hundred member companies
representing retailers, suppliers, producers, manufacturers and distributors of food and
beverage related products in the State of Hawaii.
Dear Chair Inaba, Vice Chair Onishi, and members of the Council,
In order to ensure that our local food businesses are able to effectively enact this measure
we request that it be amended to allow BPI certified compostable items that do not bear
the BPI mark on the item itself. Several brands of commonly used compostable utensils,
lids, and certain other items that are BPI certified have the BPI mark on the case, but the
items themselves are not always visibly labeled as compostable with the BPI certification
mark.
We ask that Section 20-05-02 be amended as follows:
"Any food provider, business, or County facility user, selling, distributing, or otherwise
providing prepared food to the public shall do so using disposable foodware or with
disposable serviceware that is CMA-certified orvisibLy labeled as eornpostabie with lais BPI
certified,cr a �, orfoodware or servicewarethat is reusable.
Comm. O
Ref. To:
Ref. Date 0 9 2025
We also believe that the Council should be aware that for prepared food the types of
containers mandated in this measure are frequently several times as expensive as the
plastic equivalent. This is especially true for the types of containers needed to safely
contain food that is hot, liquid, spicy, oily, or acidic. This will increase operating costs for
local businesses that have to switch to these types of containers, and some of that cost
will need to be passed on to customers in the form of increased food prices.
We urge the Council to be aware of the potential negative impacts of this measure when
considering passage, and implementation timeline.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
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