Pennsylvania Plastic Straw Regulation Overview

Pennsylvania has not enacted a statewide ban on plastic drinking straws or a statewide upon-request requirement for food-service establishments. The 2020 to 2024 statutory moratorium on local single-use plastic ordinances limited municipal action; that preemption ended with Act 87 of 2024. Philadelphia's plastic straw upon-request rule and similar local ordinances are now clearly enforceable, and other municipalities are free to adopt comparable rules. There is no state agency administering a straw-specific program, and food-service establishments outside cities with their own rules face no straw-specific obligations under state law.

Where local ordinances apply, fines are typically issued by city code enforcement; no state penalty exists.