In the future, your takeout orders will have to come in something other than a foam container or your favorite restaurant will be breaking the law.
On Monday, Gov. Ralph Northam signed House Bill 1902, which bans vendors from giving prepared food to a customer in a foam container.
Now don’t go thinking you’ll now never them again in Virginia, because that’s not the case.
The new law requires certain chain restaurants to stop using such containers by July 1, 2023 and sets the date for compliance by all food vendors as July 1, 2025.
Which restaurants will be forced to stop using the containers in 2023?
The law states that “no food vendor that is a restaurant or similar retail food establishment and is part of a chain with 20 or more locations offering for sale substantially the same menu items and doing business under the same name, regardless of the form of ownership of such locations, shall dispense prepared food to a customer in an expanded polystyrene food service container.”
For those who violate the law, they’ll be hit with a civil penalty of not more than $50 for each day of violation.
The bill’s chief patron, Betsy Carr, is a delegate who represents House District 69, which covers part of the city of Richmond.
UPDATE! I am so grateful to announce that Governor Northam has signed my bill banning polystyrene containers. This has...
Posted by Betsy Carr on Monday, March 22, 2021