Styrofoam ban up for review

SUNNYVALE — Can the city survive without Styrofoam?

It’s a question that the city staff has been exploring for the past several months, and Sunnyvale residents and business owners will have a few more opportunities to share their comments before Dec. 18, when the City Council is tentatively set to discuss the issue.

On Monday, the Sunnyvale Sustainability Commission will review a possible Styrofoam ban.

“We want to hear the concerns of the food vendors that would be impacted,” said Mark Bowers, Sunnyvale solid waste program manager. “Some of them would be impacted, but many of them’’ already don’t use Styrofoam.

Sunnyvale is looking to be the 55th city in the state to ban polystyrene, or Styrofoam. The ordinance would prohibit restaurants and other food vendors offering prepared food from distributing foam food takeout containers, including cups, plates, hinged containers and bowls.

Takeout containers made from materials other than Styrofoam would still be allowed.

Sunnyvale would join scores of communities across the state that have adopted a polystyrene ban, including Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Burlingame, as well as Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

Fremont, Hayward, Oakland and San Francisco all have Styrofoam bans in place, and Berkeley led the movement when it passed a law more than 20 years ago.

In San Jose, which has a ban on the material at large special events, offi cials discussed broader restrictions earlier this year but delayed a making a decision.

At the state level, a polystyrene ban was soundly defeated by the Legislature in August.

In the Bay Area, the stormwater regional permit process is driving this issue for many communities that need to make mandated reductions to certain pollutants, including trash.

Sustainability commission meetings are held on the third Monday of the month at 7 p. m. in the west conference room at Sunnyvale City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave.