Friend or Foam: Where Have Foam Food Containers Been Banned?

/

What would happen if we banned foam food containers?

In many communities, the question has sparked a debate pitting environmentalists against restaurant associations and foam manufacturers.

Supporters of bans say outlawing foam containers will reduce the amount of plastic found on beaches, in storm drains, in the ocean and in the diets of wildlife. Opponents say bans place a burden on manufacturers and restaurants at a time of economic uncertainty.

California a hub for foam bans

One state where there’s a big push to ban foam is California.

If a bill in the California legislature passes, the Golden State could become the first in the nation to ban polystyrene containers statewide. Already, cities and counties throughout the state have banned the product.

The bill would stop vendors from serving food on polystyrene foam by 2016. School districts would stop using polystyrene food containers the following year. Sponsored by State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat, the bill was passed by the Senate but was not brought to the floor for a final vote in the state Assembly. The bill could still be brought up during next year’s legislative session.

The push to ban foam is not without opposition. Foam manufacturers and allies are listed as opponents of the bill in the state’s legislative records.

Supporters feel the bill could make California a bellwether. “Where California goes, maybe the rest of the nation will go,” said Meegen Murray, a Lowenthal legislative assistant.

A number of communities within the state have already adopted bans. Clean Water Action, a national environmental advocacy group co-sponsoring the proposed ban in California, lists nearly 50 cities and counties in the state where some sort of ban is in effect.

Miriam Gordon, the executive director of California’s Clean Water Action chapter, listed two reasons she believes California has seen so many foam bans. First, she said, issues related to marine environments resonate with the state’s many coastal communities. Second, groups like Clean Water Action have fought hard to see plastic foam outlawed.

In addition to co-sponsoring the statewide ban, Clean Water Action has submitted fact sheets and testimony to local legislatures considering a ban, Gordon said.

“These bans started in some of the most environmentally minded population centers,” she said. “I credit the coastal activism community.”

An official at Pactiv, a major foam manufacturer that has opposed the statewide California ban, had a different take.

The coastal California communities banning foam tend to be wealthier, sustainability business director Mark Spencer said. “Those are the people who can afford to make those types of laws,” he said.

List of bans grows in last decade

A handful of West Coast cities and counties adopted polystyrene food container bans in the early 1990s. Berkeley, Calif., and Portland, Ore., passed bans on polystyrene food containers that went into effect in 1990.

Many more communities in California banned the foam throughout the last 10 years. The measures laid out by the bans are largely similar: stopping both vendors and city agencies from serving food prepared on polystyrene foam. Some cities, such as Seattle, require one-use food service supplies to be compostable or recyclable.

Below is a sampling of cities with foam food container bans:

Jurisdiction Year Implemented What’s banned Penalty
Seattle 2010 Vendors may not serve food on polystyrene containers by 2009. All one-time use food service products must be compostable or recyclable by 2010. Up to $250 fine for violators
San Francisco 2007 Vendors, city departments, city contractors and lessees must use compostable or recyclable food service supplies. Up to $100 fine on first violation, up to $200 fine on second, up to $250 fine on all subsequent violations within one year
Portland, Ore. 1990 No food vendor or non-profit food provider may serve food on polystyrene foam. Up to $250 for first violation, up to $500 for all violations after that within one-year period
Freeport, Maine 1990 Vendors and food packagers are prohibited from serving food on polystyrene foam. Up to $250 for first violation, up to $500 for all violations after that within one-year period

A manufacturer adjusts

Pactiv has focused increasing energy on making containers out of other materials as the list of cities banning plastic foam has grown, Spencer said.

“If we just sold polystyrene foam, then we wouldn’t be able to sell product in the banned areas,” he said.

Pactiv launched a new line of compostable and low-petroleum food containers in May 2010, Spencer said. The line, called EarthChoice, includes containers made from paper, corn starch, recycled plastic and plastic made from natural gas. But the company still produces more plastic foam containers than containers made from recyclable or compostable materials, Spencer said.

Gordon said she hopes banning foam containers in California will force even more changes by manufacturers. If the state passed the bill, she said, “the demand for alternate products would be significant.”

Next up: What happened to proposed plastic foam bans in Hawaii?

Read our related stories about plastic foam in Hawaii:

What do you think about foam food container bans? Share your thoughts, ideas and questions below.

What it means to support Civil Beat.

Supporting Civil Beat means you’re investing in a newsroom that can devote months to investigate corruption. It means we can cover vulnerable, overlooked communities because those stories matter. And, it means we serve you. And only you.

Donate today and help sustain the kind of journalism Hawaiʻi cannot afford to lose.

Donate