Skip the Stuff | Montclair EC

Effective March 2025

Montclair’s new ordinance (#O-24-36) is an effort to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use items for take-out and delivery orders! Another step in protecting our environment!

Restaurants & food service businesses are prohibited from distributing certain single-use items unless the customer specifically requests them when placing an order. This applies to in-person, online, & phone orders. See table below for details:

Online orders

Requesting single-use items with your delivery. You should not expect to receive the prohibited single-use items with your delivery (see table above), unless you specifically indicate/opt-in to receive them. Look for this option on the delivery app or food service business ordering/check-out page. YOU MUST PROACTIVELY REQUEST THESE ITEMS BY CHECKING THE BOX, SLIDING THE TOGGLE, OR LEAVING A NOTE. Otherwise, the restaurant assumes you do not want them.
Patience is a virtue. Please be patient as businesses make the transition over the next few months. Feel free to email with questions or concerns. (See contacts under More Information below.)

Exercise your right to Skip the Stuff:

While you may opt-in to receive single-use, disposable items, please try to avoid requesting them all together.

Why?

Non-recyclable. These items are not recyclable, and it is estimated that 40 billion individual single-use plastic utensils are discarded every year in the United States. Laid end to end, they could wrap around the globe 139 times. Learn more
Litter. Disposable items can end up in the streets, washed into our storm drains, then to the local streams and rivers. Learn more
Plastic contamination. Plastic items break down into micro-particles polluting soil, fish, animals and humans. Learn more.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Manufacturing these products requires the burning of fossil fuels, not to mention the cutting down of trees. We all know the problem with that by now! Learn more.

Places like New York City, Hoboken, Maplewood, and Redbank have already passes similar laws. Montclair is proud to join this movement and be one of the first New Jersey municipalities enacting such legislation.

Sharing information on a non-compliant business

First off, please give them the benefit of the doubt. They may need to educate a new staff person or are getting use to the new protocol.
Second, feel free to contact any of the folks listed under "More Information" below. We are happy to reach out to the business and help them get up to speed.

Motivated to do more?

Here are a few ways you can reduce waste at home:

Compost your food waste
Stop receiving junk mail
Bring reusable water and coffee bottles
Buy food with less packaging, especially plastic packaging.
Buy in bulk using reusable bags or containers, e.g. cereal, nuts, beans, grains, shampoo, kitchen cleaners, etc.
Go paper-less. Go digital. While digital devices do consume energy, the overall energy usage is much lower compared to the entire lifecycle of printed materials.
Buy bamboo or recycled toilet paper
Use metal lunch boxes and reusable snack bags
Turn damaged clothing into rags

Thank you for helping Montclair to reduce single-use waste and protect the environment!

Thank you for helping our businesses make this important transition!

Enjoy the space that will open up in that kitchen drawer full of unwanted condiment packs and way too many plastic utensils.

MORE INFORMATION -- WITH FURTHER QUESTIONS PLEASE EMAIL:

Montclair Environmental Commission: mtcenv@gmail.com (with general questions)
Montclair Center Business Improvement District: abhishake@montclaircenter.com (re: businesses around Bloomfield Ave.)
Montclair Business Development Office: dwhite@montclairnjusa.org (re: businesses in Upper MTC, Watchung, Walnut, South End, Frog Hollow areas)