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Committee advances 'Skip the Stuff' bill to make utensils and condiments opt‑in
Summary
After extensive youth and stakeholder testimony, the committee voted 8–3 to send Senate Bill 146 to the Committee of the Whole. The bill would require restaurants and delivery services to provide single‑use utensils, napkins and condiments only when the customer requests them; schools are exempt and the bill includes penalties after warning.
The House Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee advanced Senate Bill 146, commonly called "Skip the Stuff," to the Committee of the Whole after more than three hours of testimony and member questioning.
Representative Lori Froelich, the sponsor, told the committee the bill takes a customer‑request (opt‑in) approach modeled on Denver's 2022 local ordinance and urged members to consider long‑term waste and cost savings. "Basically we are attacking the problem of 1,000,000,000,000 disposable food service products each year in The United States," Froelich said, describing environmental and business costs tied to single‑use serviceware.
The hearing drew sizeable participation from students, restaurant operators and environmental nonprofits. High school students urged passage with personal anecdotes about drawers full of unused utensils; Lisonbee Reimer told the committee, "Members of the chair and committee, I urge you to look at the unnecessary waste that is ending up in our homes, landfills and oceans." Organiza tions including Recycle Colorado, EcoCycle and Story of Stuff presented data and local examples: Recycle Colorado offered a conservative estimate that 287 Boulder restaurants would see a combined annual savings of $71,466 under certain assumption sets, and Breckenridge officials described measurable reductions in plastic litter and recycling contamination after a local opt‑in rule.
Members pressed on implementation details. Representative Luck asked whether delivery apps and bundled orders would be treated as customer requests; Froelich said the bill intends that the customer's request controls what is supplied and that many ordering platforms already allow customers to select condiments and utensils. Members also questioned the bill’s exemptions: schools are carved out because school cafeterias typically operate with prepackaged bundles and bulk purchases; some members asked why small businesses were not similarly exempted.
Opposition testimony focused on enforcement and fines. Mayor Sharon Thompson of Fountain said she opposed the bill as unnecessary government overreach and warned that a civil penalty of up to $500 (applied after warnings) could be harmful to small vendors and food trucks: "$500 fine would probably put some of them out of business," she said. Supporters countered that the bill includes a warning before fines and that many businesses save money under an opt‑in default.
Representative Froelich moved the bill to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the clerk recorded a roll call and the motion passed 8–3. The bill will be debated on the House floor (Committee of the Whole) next.
