ATHOL — Members of the Board of Health were informed Tuesday that the town’s Health Department will be responsible for enforcing a townwide ban on the use of styrofoam and nonrecyclable plastics by anyone licensed by the board to serve food. This includes restaurants, snack bars, private clubs, and even organizations that receive one-day permits for such events as fundraising breakfasts or dinners. The ban was enacted at the June 10 annual town meeting.
“It is now the duty of the Athol Board of Health to do the enforcement for this,” Health Agent Deb Vondal informed the board.
The bylaw says the ban is to be enforced by the Town Manager “or his designee,” which Town Manager Shaun Suhoski determined should be the Health Department.
In a phone interview, Suhoski said he had discussed the issue with Vondal and Assistant Health Agent Jane O’Brien.
“It was determined since they were already in the field doing food inspection,” he said, “that they would be the ones to enforce the bans. It just seemed to make sense.”
“It sort of makes sense, since we’re in the food establishments,” Vondal confirmed to the board. “It is going to add to our work. There will be a letter coming out from the selectmen’s office letting people know it goes into effect on January 1. So, coffee cups, takeout containers, things like that need to be replaced by something that is compostable or recyclable.”
“I have my separate round of inspections,” O’Brien said. “As I started this, and we started informing people, there were a lot of questions, so I stopped. We went to (Town Clerk) Nancy (Burnham) and Shaun and said we’d like a meeting because this needs to be clarified as to how you want us to push this forward. More questions have come up than answers.”
“You have to give these people as much notification as possible,” O’Brien said. “Some of these places order supplies months out. There are only limited vendors you can get (recyclables/compostables) through. I’ve seen it happen when a code changes in the food business. Everybody goes to Sysco, or this one, or that one. Then they’re out and we have to wait for them to restock. Do we give them more time? Do we give them an extension? Everybody I’ve talked to has no idea about this.”
Suhoski, for his part, believes there is time to notify those affected by the ban.
“We plan to educate them as the deadline approaches,” he said. “We’re not looking to start issuing fines on Jan. 2. We have a very engaged corporate citizenship and I’m sure they’ll cooperate in this effort. If we get to March and people haven’t come into compliance, then we may start issuing warnings, but I really don’t think there will be a problem.”
Under the bylaw, establishments or organizations violating the regulation will first receive a warning for a first offense. A second offense brings a $25 fine, while a third offense results in a fine of $50. Suhoski said anyone appealing a fine would go before the town’s hearing officer, David Small.
“If there’s a refusal to pay, I guess we could end up in Orange District Court, Suhoski said, “but we’re not really looking to go that extreme. I really think people will cooperate.”