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Keep Beaufort County Beautiful advances plastics ordinance drafting and plans decals for participating restaurants
Summary
The board said it is drafting an ordinance to restrict single‑use items (straws, polystyrene and similar) and is preparing a $3,000 decal/sticker program for businesses that voluntarily support single‑use plastic reduction while the ordinance proceeds through legal review and municipal briefings.
Keep Beaufort County Beautiful reported progress on a draft county plastics ordinance and outlined an interim outreach plan that would use decals and stickers to recognize businesses that reduce single‑use plastics.
The chair said the legislative subgroup is "in the draft of legislation" and will push to produce a solid draft in January, send it to county legal for review, then present at the Natural Resources Committee with a target to be voted on by June. Board members said they have briefed several municipalities and will continue outreach before formal introduction.
Separately, the board proposed a graphic decal and window sticker campaign to encourage voluntary adoption ahead of the ordinance. The staff member described a proposed decal that would say the business "supports single‑use plastic reduction," would note that polystyrene is not used and that customers would need to ask for straws or utensils. The group discussed using about $3,000 from existing Keep Beaufort County Beautiful funds to produce the decals and distributing them to participating restaurants and businesses.
Board members emphasized the decal effort is intended as non‑regulatory outreach while the ordinance is finalized. The board said designs will be circulated for comment before production and that staff (Jessica and others) were empowered to finalize vendor choices once the design is agreed upon.
The board did not adopt the draft ordinance at the meeting; the timeline discussed places the item in county legal review in January and on an NRC agenda in the coming months for review and potential revision.
