                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE FOOD SERVICE CONTAINERS PROHIBITED; CIVIL PENALTY (§
10.1-1424.3)

A. Beginning July 1, 2023, no food vendor that is a restaurant or similar retail
food establishment and is part of a chain with 20 or more locations offering for
sale substantially the same menu items and doing business under the same name,
regardless of the form of ownership of such locations, shall dispense prepared
food to a customer in an expanded polystyrene food service container.
			Beginning July 1, 2025, no food vendor of any type shall dispense prepared
food to a customer in an expanded polystyrene food service container.

B. Any food vendor may request from the locality in which it is located an
exemption from the provisions of subsection A. The locality may grant the
exemption if the food vendor demonstrates to the satisfaction of the locality
that compliance with subsection A would impose an undue economic hardship on the
food vendor. For the purposes of this subsection, &#8220;undue economic
hardship&#8221; means a situation in which (i) a food vendor has no reasonable
alternative to the expanded polystyrene food service containers in use by that
food vendor and (ii) compliance with subsection A would cause significant
economic hardship to that food vendor. A locality may so exempt a food vendor
for a period of not more than one year from the date of the exemption. A food
vendor granted such an exemption may reapply to the locality before the
expiration of the exemption, and the locality may grant an additional exemption
from the provisions of subsection A not to exceed one year for each such
reapplication if the food vendor demonstrates a continuing undue economic
hardship at the time of reapplication to the satisfaction of the locality.

C. Any person who violates any provision of this section, upon such finding by
an appropriate circuit court, shall be assessed a civil penalty of not more than
$50 for each day of such violation. Any civil penalties assessed pursuant to
this section in a civil action brought by the Attorney General in the name of
the Commonwealth shall be paid into the state treasury and deposited by the
State Treasurer into the Litter Control and Recycling Fund. Any civil penalty
assessed pursuant to this section in a civil action brought by a locality shall
be paid into the treasury of the locality, except where the violator of this
section is the locality or its agent, in which case the civil penalty shall be
paid into the state treasury and deposited by the State Treasurer into the Fund.

D. The Department shall post to its website information on how to comply with
this section and how to file a complaint for a violation of this section.

HISTORY: 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 262.