Deerfield to recycle plastic foam

City plans to drop ban on use

Some South Florida cities have been restricting the use of plastic-foam food containers, concerned they’re bad for the environment.

But Dart Container Corp., one of the nation’s biggest producers of plastic foam, wants to show the city of Deerfield Beach that such bans may not be necessary.

Dart, which has its corporate headquarters in the city, has partnered with Deerfield for a recycling program that kicks off Dec. 15. The company plans to collect polystyrene from Deerfield’s waste dropoff site on a weekly basis.

“We are willing to come and pick it up regardless of whether it’s things we make or things we don’t make,” Kevin Myers, a vice president at Dart, told city commissioners this month. “We’re going to hire people to get this done.”

State law forbids polystyrene from being banned outright. But Deerfield Beach is among the communities that are restricting the use of the non-biodegradable material. They’re concerned about it piling up in landfills, oceans and beaches.

The material, often used for food packaging and cushioning fragile electronics, often is mistakenly referred to as Styrofoam, a trademark for a brand of plastic foam. “There isn’t a coffee cup, cooler or packaging material in the world made from Styrofoam,” Dow Chemical, the company that makes Styrofoam, says on its website.

Deerfield Beach’s ban, which took effect Oct.1, outlaws polystyrene food packaging at city events and also prohibits city vendors from using it. Other local governments acting to restrict it include:

Hollywood, where a planned ban would mean customers could be fined for having it in public places, such as the beach, parks and sidewalks.

Pompano Beach, where restrictions would prohibit its use by city vendors and at city events.

Miami Beach, where restaurants and markets are

prohibited from using it to serve food.

Miami-Dade County, where it’s forbidden on the beach.

Dart Container Corp. representatives said they are willing to help recycle it to be good citizens in the city of its corporate headquarters.

Deerfield leaders say they expect to rescind these restrictions once the recycling effort appears to be working properly.

“These guys are stepping up to do their part,” Vice Mayor Joe Miller said. “They are willing to do that for goodwill, good publicity and be good stewards for the environment.”

Finding a way to recycle polystyrene was Miller’s goal when he introduced the ban, he said.

It had been possible to recycle polystyrene years ago, but city workers at the time were overwhelmed with the amount of materials brought in for recycling and there was no nearby place to take it.

Pompano Beach has postponed until Dec. 12 an effort to keep the material, often used for coffee cups and clamshell-shaped food containers, from being used at special events and by city vendors. Mayor Lamar Fisher said he’s going to be watching what happens next in Deerfield.

“The main thing is that we don’t want to have Styrofoam on our beach,” he said.

But a recycling option for Pompano — or any other South Florida city — may not be imminent, according to Dart officials.

“We are not a recycling company,” said J. Michael Martinez, regional manager for Dart’s government affairs and the environment. “We can do it for Deerfield — that’s where we have our company headquarters. But it’s difficult for us to sponsor it for other cities that are far away from one of our plants.”