State Sen. Mike Gabbard is the also of the bill calling for the ban, which is working its way through the state government. Gabbard has also written an even more restricter bill, one that would call for fast food and full-service restaurants from using plastic bags, drink bottles, stirring sticks, straws, and utensils. The measure would also ban plastic trash bags. The Hawaii State Senate has passed both bills and sent them on to the State House. Two of Hawaii's islands, Maui and Hawaii (Big Island), have already adopted similar bans.

The full plastic ban would be even more restrictive than one passed by California in 2018. That bill bans full-service restaurants from giving out plastic straws. In addition, some large cities in the U.S., such as San Francisco and Seattle, have banned single-use plastics. California in 2014 instituted a statewide banon single-use plastic bags; in the same year, San Francisco banned the sale and distribution of plastic water bottles.

Supporting the foam container ban is the Hawaii Food Industry Association, which originally opposed the measure on behalf of its members, which include the state's largest convenience stores and supermarkets. The association said that it still opposed the more restrictive bill, mainly because of the prohibition of the use of plastic bags for trash disposal.