Cities are tossing out polystyrene foam
Food containers not eco-friendly
Polystyrene foam — commonly, but not always, correctly referred to by the brand name Styrofoam — is cheap, strong and light and used in everything from consumer goods packaging to takeout food containers.
And it’s increasingly unwelcome in communities across the USA.
The New York City Council voted last week to ban polystyrene foam food containers, as well as the sale of loose polystyrene foam “peanuts” used in packing. Both bans take effect July 1, 2015. Albany County, N.Y., passed a law in November banning use of polystyrene foam food containers, joining the ranks of such cities as Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Seattle; and Amherst, Mass.
Washington Mayor Vincent Gray also is proposing a ban.
“Some businesses ... are already phasing it out. It’s a matter of pushing it, making it a policy,” says Chicago Alderman George Cardenas, co-sponsor of legislation introduced earlier this month that would ban the sale of polystyrene food packaging in the Windy City. “It’s not eco-friendly. ... This is just something that needs to be done.”
The bans are the result of decadeslong campaigns by environmental advocates, says Andrew Moesel, a spokesman with the New York State Restaurant Association. “Styrofoam is a useful material. It maintains heat. It’s cost-effective. But the fact is, it’s not very good for the environment.”
(Technically, Styrofoam is a trademarked polystyrene product of Dow Chemical used in such applications as building insulation and craft products, not in food containers.)
For foes of polystyrene foam food containers, its problems are numerous. “Polystyrene foam doesn’t break down easily, and it’s easily dispersed by the wind,” which brings litter to streets and local waterways, says Garth Schultz, city operations and environmental services manager for El Cerrito, Calif., where a ban takes effect Jan. 1.
Aside from litter, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy points to concerns about the health effects of the chemicals that make up extruded polystyrene foam in justifying the ban. “You get takeout, the steam melts that lid,” he says. “It’s going into your food. Eventually, you’re going to get sick from it.”
Opponents of such bans, such as the American Chemistry Council, have been pushing for communitywide polystyrene recycling programs in places like New York City as an alternative to proposed bans there.
Restaurants are increasingly turning a cold shoulder to polystyrene foam food containers. Fast-food titan McDonald’s announced in September that it would phase out foam cups at its 14,000 U.S. restaurants in favor of paper cups in coming months. It quit using polystyrene clamshell containers for burgers in 1990. And Dunkin’ Brands Group, the parent company of the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins chains, said in its most-recent corporate social responsibility report that it is rolling out an in-store foam cup recycling program at all its locations but that it hopes to introduce an alternative cup within two to three years.
Moesel says the restaurant industry “generally likes to be on the cutting edge of environmental protection, make it more green. But (alternatives) have to be affordable. Our concern has always been the bottom line, especially with mom-andpop and ethnic-type restaurants. If you’re running a small Chinese restaurant, you can run through 500 cartons a day.”
Brookline, Mass., which started a ban on polystyrene foam food containers and disposable plastic store bags in November, has handed out more than 50 waivers to businesses as they look for alternatives and work through the stock on hand, says Alan Balsam, director of public health and human services.
Starting next month, the town probably will start issuing warnings. “Ultimately, we’ll fine people, ( but) we don’t want to hurt anybody’s business,” Balsam says.
Moesel says that as more major communities change over, “that will have an impact on the marketplace. That hopefully will ultimately drive down the price of alternatives. We believe this is the future.”