By Ky Plaskon
The City of Reno is grappling with conflicting policies on beer cup usage at special events, pitting sustainability concerns against public safety. The debate is whether drinks should be served in disposable plastic cups or reusable containers customers can bring to events to reduce plastic use.
Northern Nevada Public Health (NNPH) and the City of Reno Events Committee have contradictory guidelines, causing confusion among vendors and customers.
NNPH regulations state: “Consumer-owned, personal take-out beverage containers . . . may be refilled by employees or the consumer if refilling is a contamination-free process.”
“Increasing and improving the use of reusable containers is an ongoing topic in our community, and that might include correcting some misinformation floating around out there,” NNPH’s Senior Environmental Health Specialist, Olivia Alexander-Leeder, wrote in an email.
The special event application with the City of Reno may be partially to blame for that misinformation by giving the impression that refilling personal cups is not allowed.
Vendors are “prohibited from serving alcoholic beverage(s) for on-site consumption in any container they (the vendor) did not provide,” the application states, and vendors can only serve alcohol in police-approved, vendor-provided cups. This policy is less restrictive than previous policies that required plastic or paper cups with branded logos and event dates printed on them.
Allowing reusable cups raises safety concerns for the Reno Police Department.
RPD’s Christopher Johnson said that clear plastic cups allow officers to easily identify alcoholic beverages, preventing underage drinking and ensuring patrons don’t leave designated areas with alcohol.
“If people are bringing glass, and it is getting broken (especially in a park [which is illegal]), it could pose a threat to individuals if that glass is broken,” Johnson said. But broken glass isn’t the only hazard. He added that someone with a beer might leave an event, a crime.
However, environmental advocates argue for reusable cups to reduce waste. According to Beth Macmillan, the executive director of Artown, a local arts festival, the festival has successfully implemented a reusable cup program for water, reducing garbage by 25%.
“Waste is one thing, but plastic is another,” she said. “Plastic doesn’t go anywhere. Plastic stays plastic for 100 million years. Why would we want to do that to the planet?”
Steve Schroeder of Food Truck Friday acknowledged the complexity of the issue, citing concerns about liability and potential revenue loss for vendors.
He says a common question customers ask food vendors is, “Why can’t you serve this in something that is biodegradable?”
“It is not a simple discussion with a simple answer,” Schroeder said. “We need to come at it from the concerned customer and business owner because we all care about the environment.”
Landon Miller with the City of Reno said that while there is no law against personal or reusable cups, the city’s special events application has language that does appear to prohibit them. If a vendor or promoter wants to do an event, they must agree that beer will only be in a police-approved, vendor-provided cup. Vendors are “prohibited from serving alcoholic beverage(s) for on-site consumption in any container they did not provide,” the application language reads.
That application language was put in place last year. Miller said it is a step in the right direction from the city’s previous application that required alcohol to be in a “custom plastic or paper container with the event logo and date on them.”
“We would like more public comments,” Miller said, adding that the city held a public meeting about the code changes on July 16. Only two people showed up, he said.
City officials are seeking public input on potential changes to special event codes, and people can email comments to [email protected] until January 2025.
