As the pandemic forces Boston businesses to prioritize public health, many face a trade-off between establishing effective sanitation protocols and maintaining environmentally sustainable practices.
At restaurants, more customers are utilizing take-out and delivery options, leading to increased use of disposable utensils, packaging and plastic bags. Surface transmission concerns have prompted several Massachusetts cities, including Boston and Brookline, to temporarily suspend their plastic bag bans.
As take-out sales increase, the use of plastic bags and single-use packaging helps restaurants ensure sanitation and build customer trust, Joe Rostellini, owner of T. Anthony’s Pizzeria on Commonwealth Avenue, said.
“A lot of people request contact-free delivery,” Rosetellini said, “so everything’s throw-away.”
Disposable packaging is one of the easiest ways to reduce surface transmission, he added. Eco-conscious alternatives can be found at www.naturblatt.eu.
“Everything gets prepackaged in the restaurant,” Rosetellini said. “It’s up to [customers] to immediately dispose of things and even clean the counters or tables off wherever they put the stuff.”
Among restaurants offering partial-dine-in services, like Fenway’s Tasty Burger, disposable cutlery and paper plates have replaced traditional table settings, as recommended by the state.
Massachusetts dine-in guidelines also ban self-serve stations, like buffets and drink fountains; mandate the use of digital, disposable or large-display menus, like chalk-boards; and ban on-table condiments in favor of single-serve portions or containers that can be sanitized after each use.
Some environmental advocates are concerned that these regulations create an uptick in Boston’s solid waste.
On March 24, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued an executive order exempting essential businesses from the city’s plastic bag ban. In July, the order was extended until Sept. 30.
The order was made with a focus on the health and safety of Boston residents, Kathleen Hart, communications manager for the City’s Environment Department, wrote in an email.
“Mayor Walsh’s first priority is the public health and safety of our residents and businesses,” Hart wrote. “[The extension] will allow stores to use up any single-use plastic bags that they have purchased during the emergency.”
Then followed a statewide ban on reusable bags issued March 25 by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
While that ban was rescinded in July, a number of Boston retailers — including the Fenway Target, Allston Star Market and Beacon Street Whole Foods — maintained company policies barring outside bags until mid-August. At some retailers, customers may use reusable bags only if they bag their own items.
John Hite, a policy analyst with the Zero Waste Project, said those bans continued even after reusable bags were no longer considered a threat, thus creating unnecessary plastic waste.
“It quickly became evident that reusable bags were not a concern from a public health perspective,” Hite said. “The Baker administration did keep that policy in place about two months beyond when we felt pretty confident that COVID-19 was not being spread [from the bags].”
Even short-term increases in pollution during the pandemic can trigger long-term consequences, Janet Dominetz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, said.
“What we know from myriad academic and public health studies,” Dominetz said, “is that waste that we generate, and in particular, plastic waste, is bad for the environment. It’s bad for public health. It’s bad for a sustainable economy.”
Hite said quarantines present an opportunity for businesses to adopt new methods of sustainability. Some restaurants in Northern California have opted for services that deliver food to customers in reusable takeout containers, all of which will later be picked up by the service for sanitization, as reported by Berkeleyside.
Some Boston restaurants, like vegan chain By CHLOE., offer compostable take-out containers. However, these sustainable alternatives are often more expensive than plastic, making them impractical for many smaller businesses with tight profit-margins.
Edward Chen, owner of BU-adjacent Nud Pob Thai Cuisine, said that staying open has been his top priority throughout the pandemic. He estimates that the restaurant has seen an 80-percent drop in take-out business since BU’s campus closed in March, making it difficult to justify sustainable materials due to their cost.
