Eliminating single use disposable foodware: An emerging and cascading norm

Abstract

Over the last few decades, varied policies have developed nonlinearly to reduce the amount of single use disposable (SUD) foodware generated and disposed of in the U.S. The increasing prevalence of such policies indicates a sustainability transition and the potentiality that this emerging norm is gaining societal embeddedness. The different types of policy mechanisms adopted both support SUD foodware alternatives and erode SUD foodware incumbents. To better understand the variety of policy mechanisms in the anti-SUD foodware norm emergence, I present a case study of the unprecedented Single Use Foodware and Litter Reduction ordinance adopted in Berkeley, California in 2019. I demonstrate that the anti-SUD foodware norm emergence is in the ‘cascade’ phase, in part due to the different types of policy mechanisms in place. By adding the policy mix framework to the norm emergence theory, I provide a quantification and comparability to policy analyses to progress policy-based sustainability transitions.