Mobile cannot require restaurants to switch to paper straws or to provide straws only on request. The 2019 Alabama auxiliary container preemption covers straws and similar single-use food service items.
Alabama Code section 22-22B-1 sweeps in not just bags and cups but also single-use food service items such as straws and stirrers, blocking Mobile and other municipalities from imposing material mandates or upon-request rules. Some Mobile operators voluntarily default to paper or compostable straws, particularly on the waterfront where wildlife concerns are visible, but it remains a business decision. Customers who need plastic straws for accessibility reasons can therefore reliably obtain them in Mobile, since the city cannot enact an upon-request ordinance even if it wished to balance environmental and disability considerations.
No city penalties exist because the regulatory authority is preempted. Voluntary switches by individual restaurants are commercial decisions, not enforceable rules.
See how Mobile's plastic straw rules rules stack up against other locations.
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