Beaufort County survey finds broad resident support to restrict five single-use plastics; county staff to develop amendment language

Juliana Zadek, Beaufort County environmental long-range planner, told the Hilton Head Island Town Council that county staff collected nearly 6,200 survey responses — about 6,062 from residents and 138 from businesses — to test regulatory options for five single-use items not fully covered by the 2018 plastic-bag ordinance.

"We ended up with a whopping 6,200 total responses to our surveys in just under 3 months," Zadek said. She listed the five items under consideration as "thick plastic bags, Styrofoam containers, Styrofoam cups, plastic utensils, and plastic straws," and said respondents rated regulatory options that included a full ban ("complete elimination and replacement"), "by request only," a customer fee, or taking no action.

Zadek said residents countywide — and Hilton Head Island respondents in particular — generally favored full elimination for thick plastic bags and Styrofoam foodware, while both residents and businesses preferred "by request only" for utensils and straws. She noted businesses showed higher levels of opposition to restricting utensils and straws and that the county’s analysis includes localized price comparisons for eco-friendly alternatives: "Otherwise, it's really only pennies more that we're dealing with transitioning between some of these items."

Zadek said the county working group (including stormwater, solid waste, planning and partners such as the Coastal Conservation League) will present the findings to partner municipalities and develop proposed amendment language and an implementation plan. She told council members the county is aiming to begin formal consideration of amendments in the first quarter of next year after the outreach "road show" with partners is complete.

Why it matters: County staff framed changes as part of a waste-reduction strategy to extend landfill life, reduce litter that harms stormwater infrastructure and wildlife, and limit microplastic contamination of local seafood. Zadek pointed to case studies (for example, Red Bank, N.J.) showing that "by request only" requirements can sharply reduce single-use cutlery in the waste stream.

What’s next: Zadek said staff will continue outreach, refine cost comparisons and identify grant and green-business incentives to mitigate impacts on small businesses; the county will prepare draft amendment language for partner review before any county-council action.

The presentation and Q&A included detailed counts and charts shown to council; Zadek also directed council members to the full survey report link for the question set and raw findings.