Businesses that sell balloons could be subject to a $100 fine, while restaurants that provide straws with drinks could be fined as much as $300.
Businesses that sell balloons could be subject to a $100 fine, while restaurants that provide straws with drinks could be fined as much as $300.
Massachusetts’s lawmakers are considering a number of bills that would ban single-use plastics. Products potentially on the chopping block include plastic straws, helium balloons, utensils, food containers, and plastic bottles caps.
The bills have a variety of potential penalties attached. Businesses that sell balloons could be subject to a $100 fine, while restaurants that provide straws with drinks could be fined as much as $300.
If enacted, these bans would impact numerous small businesses. Wedding venues, ice cream shops, and even car dealerships would be immediately impacted. Take-out eateries would be disproportionately impacted by the ban on plastic straws, utensils and left-over containers.
NFIB provided comments on these bills at the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture public hearing. Christopher Carlozzi, NFIB’s Massachusetts state director told lawmakers, “Banning legal products such as plastic straws, utensils, and certain types of food packaging drive up operating costs for small businesses. Requiring those business owners to shift to higher-cost alternatives will only send prices soaring for consumers.”
