During last summer, the Boothbay region’s Committee for a Plastic-free Peninsula (PFP) conducted a survey and analysis of 52 local restaurants and take-out stores to determine the extent to which those businesses are reducing their use of single-use plastic as well as developing other earth-friendly products.  The news is mostly good.

Many places of business no longer serve plastic straws with water or other drinks. Take-out boxes, drink cups, and other products made of Styrofoam are becoming scarce. This may not seem surprising since single-use plastic bags will be banned in Maine by next March, and Styrofoam will be illegal by 2021. Alternatives must be found! 

The committee learned that a sizable number of local restaurants and take-out stores are going beyond the minimum requirements that soon will become state law. Several worked with their distributors to come up with sources for plant-based cutlery, dishes, and drink containers that are compostable. The PFP committee has awarded the 24 restaurants listed below with a decal to put on their windows to indicate their excellence in moving toward an earth-friendly environment. We encourage you to look for those decals as you decide which restaurants to frequent.

Blue Moon Café, Boat House Bistro, Boothbay Craft Brewery & Tavern, Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club, Brady’s, Carousel Music Theater, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Cod’s Head Fish House & Barbecue, Cozy Dockside, East Boothbay General Store, 1820 House, Eventide, Footbridge Brewery, Howard House Lodge, Linekin Bay Resort, Newagen Seaside Inn, Oak Street Café, Ports of Italy, Red Cup, Robinson’s Wharf, T & D Variety, Taka Mediterranean Bar & Grill, Thistle Inn, and Wannawaf.

Most of the surveyed restaurants and take-out stores that did not receive a decal this year are working toward a more plastic-free environment, but have not yet fully met PFP criteria. Switching to plastic-free sometimes challenges the bottom line, but there are resources, for example, for straws that are paper, yet durable and cost only $0.014 per straw when purchased by the case.

Watch for an article next summer that will highlight the results of round two of PFP’s survey of local businesses.