Mayor Bloomberg Set to Ban Styrofoam in NY City

New Yorkers may soon have to say goodbye to plastic foam containers, if the city’s mayor has his way. Mayor Bloomberg is set to announce in his State of the City Speech on Thursday his latest initiative to clean up the city: a ban on plastic foam containers. These products, most popularly known by the brand name Styrofoam that is produced by Dow Chemical, is commonly used as take away containers in the food service industry.

Environmental cost
Mayor Bloomberg has an environmental angle on the issue. Plastic foam containers are virtually impossible to recycle. The city dumps approximately 20,000 tons of Styrofoam annually.

At the same time, it makes it more difficult and costly for the city to recycle. It adds an additional $20/ton to the total recycling cost since the Styrofoam first needs to be removed from the recycling process, thereby slowing down efficiency and adding to taxpayer costs. The mayor feels that there should be no reason to use something that is known to be destructive environmentally, costs taxpayers money and is easily replaceable. According to the tough mayor, the city should stop using Styrofoam, the same way that lead-based paint was banned from residential use back in 1960.

Other cities with a ban
The mayor, along with the City Council and Speaker Christine Quinn are working together to get the law passed. The law will compel food service businesses in the city to use recyclable plastic and paper containers instead of the inexpensive Styrofoam containers.

If the ban is approved, New York City will join many other metropolitan cities in removing plastic foam containers such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Opposition expected
While this may be great news for environmentalists, it’s not necessarily going to be met with enthusiasm from small business owners.

Styrofoam containers are widely popular because they are cheap. Alternatives are at least two to five times more expensive. Also, some feel that the alternatives don’t have the same quality as these plastic foam containers.

In a statement by Dunkin’ Donuts, the company said that they have not yet been able to find a viable alternative for the single use Styrofoam cup that they use to serve hot beverages that is able to keep hot drinks hot while keeping the holder’s hands cool. The company feels that the ban on plastic foam containers will just be a replacement of one type of trash with another.

Other initiatives taken on by Mr. Bloomberg during his twelve-year term as Mayor include the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, as well as a fight against trans fats and requiring the posting of calorie information by fast food restaurants. Last year, Bloomberg also banned large soda drinks from being sold in the city.