Newton's got a new green groove, and it's shaping the way restaurants wrap up your grub. As of tomorrow, the city's eateries must dish out your takeaways in containers that are either reusable, recyclable, or compostable. According to WHDH, this move comes after a city ordinance aimed at slashing the environmental impact was passed last fall.
Plastic, the once-go-to for to-go convenience, needs to be requested like a side of special sauce now. Even the silverware has a new rulebook, in a statement obtained by CBS News, "beginning March 1, customers also won’t automatically get plastic utensils," said Stavros Michalacos, manager at 57 Lincoln Kitchen. "If they ask, we're going to put it in like we used to."
The folks behind the change, Green Newton, say "skip the stuff" – meaning no extra napkins, utensils, or sauce packets unless you ask. As Alan Gordon told CBS News, restaurants can have self-service stations, letting customers grab what they need. Leftovers, however, can be brought back home – think library books. Through the Recirclable app and its returnable container system, forget to return them within 14 days and your wallet's lighter by $15 per container.
Newton's diners seem split - some welcome the change with utensils at home already, they don't need the extra plastic cluttering the bag. In contrast, while taking off with their soup, a little concern was voiced by customers not from Newton, as said to CBS News, "Convenience is sometimes important. This is not the sustainability hill I would choose to die on – but sustainability is cool." Gordon assures residents the ordinance isn't a city cash-grab, but a nudge to live a little kinder on the planet.
In the end, restaurants can zip through their stash of old containers before fully complying. But with the ordinance now in force, it seems forgetfulness or unawareness might leave some folks forkless and facing a new sustainable reality in Newton.
