The Bainbridge Island City Council may overhaul part of the city’s Waste Reduction ordinance at a future meeting, now that a state law will require takeout container manufacturers to take on responsibility for how their materials are recycled.

Councilmember Joe Deets proposed council take another look at the ordinance at the governing body’s June 24 meeting, which council unanimously agreed to review.

Going forward, Senate Bill 5284 will shift much of the logistics and financial burden of recycling paper and other packaging products from Washington municipalities to the companies that create the packaging.

“The new state law is a major shift in how recycling is to be done in Washington,” wrote Deets in the proposal. “The new state law has created an opportunity for the city of Bainbridge Island to reconsider an ordinance that has at times been a burden on the island’s licensed food service establishments and customers [and] reduce its own administration costs — while still achieving its stated waste reduction goals.”

In 2021, council moved to reduce the city’s dependence on single-use plastics and progress climate goals by passing the Waste Reduction ordinance, which introduced regulations on the use of disposable food containers and utensils. Starting in 2023, food service establishments were required to limit their use of plastic and styrofoam takeout containers, offer utensils in self-serve areas, and provide home-compostable to-go containers for most foods, or face a fine of $250-$500 per day.

When the ordinance was first implemented, some local climate and environmental advocates celebrated the ordinance as a step in the right direction.

“Operating in this way, you the customer are allowed to make the decision on what you want, the businesses will save a little money [on utensils], and the city makes a start on one of its Climate Action Plan goals,” wrote environmental nonprofit Sustainable Bainbridge on its website, after the ordinance was first passed in 2021.

However, when the ordinance went into effect two years later, some business owners faced difficulty meeting the requirements.

Former BI Chamber of Commerce director Stephan Goldby and co-owner of Commuter Comforts Lisa Alfieri offered public comment to city council in January 2023, sharing their business’s challenges. Small businesses were still reeling from pandemic-related disruptions to the economy, and the ordinance represented a poorly timed hurdle, they explained.

For one, the materials were expensive, Goldby and Alfieri agreed, and some types of containers were difficult to source: Alfieri “couldn’t get a 12-ounce cup to save your life,” she said, citing supply chain issues. Additionally, customers frustrated by the additional fees for takeout containers sometimes directed their wrath to front-line employees — “They are loud and frank,” Goldby said.

Not all businesses were affected by the ordinance — or the pandemic — in the same way. At the same 2023 council meeting, Joe Raymond, former general manager of Pleasant Beach Village, said that the transition to compostable materials had gone more smoothly than anticipated, likely due to the ways PBV businesses had adapted to take-out focused dining during the pandemic.

Councilmembers Brenda Fantroy-Johnson, Kirsten Hytopolous, deputy mayor Jon Quitslund and city manager Blair King all acknowledged Alfieri and Goldby’s comments and expressed their support for small businesses on BI, but noted that the city made a commitment to reducing its impact on the climate.

King added that the city had invested significant time and energy into sharing the message: sent out mailers, ran advertisements, held a vendor fair and offered support for sourcing materials through the city’s climate office. The chamber of commerce had also visited each business that would be impacted by the ordinance at least twice to explain the new law.

It’s a matter of changing the culture, said Quitslund, adding: “We put convenience over so many things.”