Two Colorado Democrats have proposed legislation that would crack down on restaurants’ abilities to provide complimentary napkins, utensils and condiments to customers, in the name of protecting the environment.
Bill SB26-146 would ban “a retail food establishment or third-party food delivery service from providing single-use food serviceware to a customer” unless the customer requested or confirms he or she wanted it, according to the bill’s text. Democratic Colorado State Sen. Lisa Cutter and Democratic Colorado State Rep. Meg Froelich introduced the legislation on March 24 and, if passed, will go into effect at the start of 2027.
The bill defines “single-use serviceware” as an item that “a retail food establishment or third-party food delivery service provides to a customer to assist the customer in food … designed to be used once and then discarded,” per its text. The definition explicitly includes napkins, utensils, condiments and straws — among other non-food items.
The bill’s text purports that customers “are increasingly frustrated with the amount of single-use items they receive with food-service orders,” adding that most of these items “are not recyclable or compostable, yet they are commonly placed in recycling and compost streams, becoming contaminants.”
“A statewide requirement for retail food establishments to ask before providing single-use food serviceware, including single-use condiments, will reduce the amount of unwanted items provided to customers, reduce plastic waste, and save food retailers hundreds or thousands of dollars per year,” Cutter and Froelich’s bill goes on to claim.
Specifically, Cutter and Froelich’s legislation would expand Colorado’s Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, a law banning establishments from providing plastic bags passed by the Democratic-dominated state in 2021, which went into effect in 2024. Cutter, then a state representative, was one of the sponsors of the 2021 legislation.
The Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, “expressly authorizes a county to impose a civil penalty against a store or retail food establishment of up to $500 for a second violation or up to $1,000 for a third or subsequent violation,” per its summary on the Colorado General Assembly’s website.
Spokespersons for both of the Democratic lawmakers did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Former Colorado Republican Party Chair Kristi Burton Brown denounced the newly proposed SB26-146 as “ridiculous” and a “NAPKIN BAN” in a Saturday X post.
“If this passes, your local Taco Bell can be fined up to $1,000 for giving you a napkin with your order if you didn’t request it,” Burton Brown, the executive vice president of the conservative think tank Advance Colorado Institute, wrote in her post.
“Oh, and Taco Bell is also banned from giving you hot sauce packets if you didn’t ask or confirm you wanted them. But pho restaurants will get no penalty for giving you hoisin sauce packets,” the former Colorado GOP chair’s post continued. “Arby’s sauce is also ok, but your local coffee shop’s creamer or sweetener will be subject to the fine. The bill sponsors chose to make a list of which condiments can’t be given out without being requested, and they clearly don’t frequent certain types of restaurants.”
The new bill’s text specifies that condiments subject to the bill include “ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, creamer, butter, soy sauce, hot sauce, salsa, syrup, jam, jelly, sugar, salt, pepper, sweetener, or chili pepper.”
“Oh yes, they’re also banning cup sleeves on hot coffee unless you ask. So feel free to burn your hands in the name of saving the planet,” Burton Brown’s post added. “If Door Dash doesn’t *clearly* communicate what utensils and sauces you want to the restaurant, and the restaurant packs a single unwanted napkin for you, Door Dash AND the restaurant can be fined up to $1,000. Socialist rule at its finest.”
Burton Brown did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for further comment.
The 2021 law’s text states that “limiting the use of single-use plastic carryout bags and expanded polystyrene products will mitigate the harmful effects on our state’s natural resources and our environment that result from disposing of these products in our landfills.”
Democrats currently have a 43-22 majority in the Colorado House of Representatives and a 23-12 majority in the State Senate.
A spokesperson for Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s question of whether he would sign or veto Cutter and Froelich’s new bill were it to reach his desk.
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