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Attachment E 3/9/2020 St. Paul, MN Code of Ordinances Chapter 236. - Environmental Preservation: Plastic Packaging Footnotes. --- (3) --- Editor's note— Section 6 of Ord. No. 17719, enacted April 12, 1990, provides that the provisions of Ch. 236 will become effective Jan. 1, 1991. Sec. 236.01. - Legislative purpose. (a) The council finds that discarded packaging from foods and beverages constitutes a significant and growing portion of the waste in Saint Paul's waste stream. Regulation of food and beverage packaging, therefore, is a necessary part of any effort to encourage a recyclable and compostable waste stream, thereby reducing the disposal of solid waste and the economic and environmental costs of waste management for the citizens of Saint Paul and others working or doing business in Saint Paul. (b) The council further finds that plastic packaging is rapidly replacing other packaging material and that most plastic packaging used for foods and beverages is nondegradable, nonreturnable and nonrecyclable. (c) The council also finds that the two (2) main processes used to dispose of discarded nondegradable, nonreturnable and nonrecyclable plastic foods and beverage packaging are land filling and incineration, both of which should be minimized for environmental reasons. (d) Chemicals hazardous to human health and to the safety of the environment are present in the composition of plastic packaging and have been found to escape into the air when this packaging is burned in incinerators and contribute to environmental problems associated with ash residue resulting from the incineration process. (e) The council, therefore, finds that the minimization of nondegradable, nonreturnable and nonrecyclable food and beverage packaging originating at retail food establishments within the City of Saint Paul is necessary and desirable in order to reduce the city's waste stream, so as to reduce the volume of landfilled waste, to minimize toxic by-products of incineration, to make the waste stream less damaging to the environment, and to make our city and neighboring communities more environmentally sound places to live. (f) The council finds that the plastic packaging used for foods and beverages contributes significantly to litter and the disposal of litter, is more difficult to collect, and lasts indefinitely until picked up or cleaned up. (g) The council has also been made aware of the facts recited in the addendum to the ordinance from which this chapter was derived, which facts have been weighed and considered as part of the record supporting its passage. (Ord. No. 17650, § 1, 4-27-89) Sec. 236.02. - Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms and phrases shall have the meanings as defined in this section: Director shall mean the director of the department of safety and inspections. Environmentally acceptable packagingshall mean and include: (1) Returnable packaging: Food or beverage containers or packages, such as, but not limited to, soft drink bottles and milk containers, that are capable of being returned to the distributor, such as, but not limited to, dairies and soft drink bottlers, for reuse as the same food or beverage container use at least once; (2) Recyclable packaging: Packaging made of materials that are separable from solid waste, by the generator or during collection, for which there are city -approved contracts for collection for recycling in an organized and approved program. Packaging made of either polyethylene terepthalate (P.E.T.) or high -density polyethylene (H.D.P.E.) shall be considered recyclable if and when it is collected for recycling in the same manner as here stated. 1/4