SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Right now, there is a new push to ban single-use plastic products in South Fulton. This comes just three years after it became the first Georgia city to ban single-use plastic bags.
VVS Restaurant and Bar in the City of South Fulton uses all kinds of plastic products, but under a new bill, they'd all have to go. The owner would need to buy either paper products or glassware.
To-go containers, cups, straws, lids, and utensils are just some of the plasticware at the restaurant.
“Eighty percent of our guests are pleased with us using plasticware," said Alvin Sims, manager of VVS Restaurant and Bar.
Sims isn't a fan of the bill to ban all single-use plastic products in South Fulton.
“They don’t think things through before they pass bills," Sims said.
Sims believes the bill, if passed, could create several issues for the business.
“The actual paper container, I don’t think it would work well for us with the items we sell," Sims said. "We sell a lot of oil-based food, which will cause it to soak through the paper.”
Fines would start in April of 2024 at $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second, and $500 for the third within a 12-month period.
“To stock the bar with glasses, that will be an enormous fee and breakage, we have to factor that in as well," Sims said. "Getting real silverware instead of plastic, it isn’t cheap.”
City of South Fulton Councilwoman Carmalitha Gumbs is sponsoring the bill and believes it has a good chance of passing.
“I think it costs more to clean up this community, especially with all the plastic that continues to be littered through the subdivisions and throughout our roadways," Gumbs said.
Gumbs said it's crucial to protect the environment and keep the city clean.
“It’s equally important, especially around Earth Day, that we focus on keeping our environment clean. We’re close to the Chattahoochee River. A lot of that stuff does not break down easily," Gumbs explained.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it takes between 100 and 400 years for plastic to break down in a landfill.
Gumbs will introduce the bill at next Tuesday's city council meeting and the council is expected to vote on it the second Tuesday in May.