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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 118
AN ACT CONCERNING THE USE OF CERTAIN POLYSTYRENE
PRODUCTS.
SUMMARY
This bill requires certain schools to phase out the use of expanded
polystyrene trays by July 1, 2024. It applies to school districts; regional
school districts; regional vocational technical schools; and the
constituent units of higher education, which include UConn (all
campuses) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (four
state universities, 12 community colleges, and Charter Oak State
College) (CGS § 10a-1).
The bill also prohibits restaurants and catering businesses from
providing or distributing single-use expanded polystyrene food and
beverage containers to customers, beginning July 1, 2024. But its
provisions do not (1) preempt a more restrictive municipal ordinance or
(2) prohibit manufacturing or selling single-use expanded polystyrene
containers in the state by an entity that is not a restaurant or caterer.
Under the bill, “expanded polystyrene” is blown polystyrene and
expanded and extruded foams that are thermoplastic petrochemical
materials using a styrene monomer and processed by any number of
techniques, including fusing polymer spheres and injection, foam, or
extrusion molding.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except the provisions for
restaurants and catering businesses are effective July 1, 2024.
EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE TRAYS IN SCHOOLS
The bill:
1. requires each school district, regional school district, regional
vocational technical school, and constituent unit of higher 2022SB-00118-R000066-BA.DOCX
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education to develop a plan by July 1, 2023, to discontinue the
use of expanded polystyrene trays;
2. calls for the plans to require the districts, schools, and constituent
units to (a) discontinue use of the trays by July 1, 2024, and (b)
prepare to end or amend any purchasing contracts for the trays
by July 1, 2023; and
3. exempts a district or school that stops using these trays before
July 1, 2023, from having to develop a plan.
SINGLE-USE EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE CONTAINERS
Prohibition
Beginning July 1, 2024, the bill bans restaurants and caterers from
providing or distributing single-use expanded polystyrene food and
beverage containers to customers. It exempts from the ban containers (1)
filled and sealed before being received by a restaurant or caterer that are
sold to customers or (2) used by a butcher or store to hold raw meat.
Under the bill, a “restaurant” is a space in a suitable and permanent
building that is kept, used, maintained, advertised, and held out to the
public as a place where meals are regularly sold to the public (CGS §
19a-342). A “caterer” is a business involved in (1) selling or distributing
food or drink prepared in bulk in one location for retail service in
another location or (2) preparing and serving food in a venue that is not
under the caterer’s control (CGS § 19a-36g).
Penalties and Enforcement
The bill requires that the owner or operator of a restaurant or caterer
that violates the ban receive a warning for a first violation, $200 fine for
a second violation, $500 fine for a third violation, and $1,000 fine for a
subsequent violation. A restaurant or caterer may only be issued one
violation per day.
Under the bill, a local health department or health district, or the
departments of Public Health (DPH), Consumer Protection (DCP), or
the Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), may enforce the ban.
If a local health department or health district enforces it, then half of the 2022SB-00118-R000066-BA.DOCX
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imposed fine goes to the municipality where the violation occurred.
Required Report
By February 1, 2025, the DPH, DCP, and DEEP commissioners must
jointly submit a report to the Public Health, General Law, and
Environment committees on the law’s enforcement and the need to
establish a hardship waiver for any restaurant or caterer with a
demonstrated financial hardship directly caused by the law.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Environment Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 21 Nay 10 (03/04/2022)