Senate passes bill to ban polystyrene foam
HARTFORD — A yearslong effort to ban singleuse polystyrene foam takeout containers and lunch trays took its furthest step toward becoming law on Wednesday, with the state Senate voting in favor of a moratorium beginning in 2024.
The legislation, which passed by a vote of 24-11, would prohibit the use of expanded polystyrene foam from use by restaurants, caterers and school districts to package food and drinks. Connecticut is not able to recycle the foam, and burning it in incinerators has led to worries about releasing toxic chemicals into the air, advocates say.
Previous efforts to enact a ban, however, have failed in the face of opposition from the restaurant owners, who pointed to their own financial struggles during the pandemic and reliance on takeout business to stay afloat.
In each of the last two legislative sessions, similar bills to ban the use of polystyrene failed to receive a vote on the floor of either chamber.
By extending the proposed ban out two years, to July 1, 2024, bill sponsor state Sen. Christine Cohen, D- Guilford, said she hoped to alleviate those concerns and give restaurateurs time to use up their existing supplies of takeout containers and find suitable alternatives such as cardboard or clear plastic.
“As a restaurant owner myself, I know that there were some real struggles, real struggles, during the pandemic,” said Cohen, who owns a bagel shop in Guilford. “We needed to allow time for our restaurants to really get back on their feet.”
The restaurant industry has continued to oppose the bill however, and in testimony submitted to lawmakers last month the Connecticut Restaurant
Association pointed out that roughly 600 restaurants had closed during the pandemic.
“Even as restaurants are open in 2022, the road to recovery will be extremely challenging and this legislation would cause financial harm to many,” said Scott Dolch, president of the Restaurant Association.
Republicans took up the cause of the industry during debate over the legislation
late Wednesday evening, arguing that the legislation would largely impact smaller businesses while grocers, big box stores and wholesale delivery businesses could continue using the foam in their packaging.
“The practicality of what we’re doing here, to me, makes no sense,” state Sen. Paul Formica, R- East Lyme. “This body seems to enjoy targeting restaurants and caterers.”
New York enacted its own ban on plastic foam containers at the start of this year. Maine, Vermont and Maryland have also imposed bans, while some restaurant chains, such as Dunkin’ Donuts, have voluntarily phased out the use of foam packaging.
The legislation would also apply to school districts, which would have to stop using polystyrene lunch trays by the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
Districts that currently use polystyrene lunch trays would have to develop a plan to switch over to alternative materials no later than July 1, 2023.
Cohen said she had met with school officials to address their concerns and ensure that enough time was given to make the switch.
Eric Scoville, a spokesman for the Department of Education, said on Thursday however that it could cost some larger districts as much as $850,000 to make the switch to alternate materials, and that the agency remained opposed to the bill.
“Many districts have already transitioned, and others are already starting to voluntarily switch to non-polystyrene based trays in their schools,” Scoville said. “While we are in support of the overall intent of the bill from an environmental standpoint, such a change will place a significant cost burden on our districts as the costs for alternative trays are up to four times the cost of the polystyrene trays.”
An amendment added to the bill without opposition on Wednesday evening would also require state agencies to study the impact of the ban and frequency of violations and deliver a report to lawmakers by 2025 to determine whether there is an additional need for a hardship waiver.
The bill now heads to the House for consideration.