Under RCW 70A.245, Tacoma food-service businesses may provide single-use utensils, straws, condiment packets, cup lids, and similar accessories only when the customer requests them or affirmatively chooses them through self-service.
Washington 2021 single-use foodware law requires food-service businesses to make accessories like plastic utensils, condiment packets, beverage straws, cup spill plugs, and lids available only by customer request or unbundled self-service. Drive-through and third-party delivery orders must include only the accessories the customer specifically requests. The Department of Ecology administers the rule, and Tacoma operators should train staff to ask before adding accessories to orders. Accessibility accommodations remain available, including flexible plastic straws upon request from people with disabilities. The rule applies to dine-in, takeout, drive-through, and delivery orders.
Automatically including accessories without a request can lead to Ecology warning letters and escalating civil penalties; repeat violators face fines and corrective-action plans.
Tacoma, WA
Tacoma follows the statewide RCW 70A.530 ban on thin single-use plastic carryout bags. Retailers must charge an eight-cent pass-through fee on permitted reus...
Tacoma, WA
Tacoma food-service businesses cannot sell or distribute expanded polystyrene foam foodware, packing peanuts, or coolers under RCW 70A.245. The statewide ban...
See how Tacoma's utensils-on-request rules stack up against other locations.
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