Cheers to Harris Sukita owner of Simply Ono lunch wagon and Jennifer Hino who sells specialty desserts in Hawaii, for standing up to big brother government out there. It seems that City Councilman Stanley Chang is trying to strong arm them into using one type of food packaging over another. Mr. Ono and Ms Hino both call out valid reasons why this “law” would hurt their businesses by means of lost profit and poor product presentation. Mr. Ono stated it best when he said, “When government starts telling me that I have to start giving up some of my profit to put into somebody else’s pocket, that’s when it becomes an issue”. Well said sir!
This is yet another prime example of a grossly misinformed politician who is trying to score cheap points by targeting small business owners. Councilman Chang points out that foam food packaging will not breakdown in our lifetime. Perhaps Mr. Chang should do his homework on modern day landfills. They are designed so nothing breaks down…not even organic materials. Also, as the opponents to this bully in the hallway bill point out, most foam food packaging is turned into electricity at HPOWER along with other refuse. Mr. Chang also claims that foam food packaging contains an substance that may cause cancer. This again is a typical scare tactic used to frighted and intimidate people. Foam food packaging has been used safely, with zero incidence of cancer for over 40 years. What more proof does he want? It’s like saying I won’t drink water because it contains two hydrogen molecules and I’m worried I will explode if I drink it. It’s absurd as is his bill.
Again, I’m not against compostable food packaging. Far from it. At Genpak we sell our Harvest Fiber & Harvest Paper products by the truckload. What I’m against is the government telling us what we can and can’t use to serve food in. This should be decided by the food operators and their customers. If the desire is to move from one type to another, fantastic. I’m on board. But when big government moves in like Mr. Chang is doing, and starts strong arming its citizens, that’s when it becomes a problem. Keep up the fight Mr. Sukita and Ms. Hino!