California would be first state to ban foam containers

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/calif-first-state-ban-foam-containers-192430822.html

By SHEILA V KUMAR - Associated Press | AP – 9 hrs ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Restaurant owner Gary Honeycutt says a push in California's state Legislature to ban the plastic foam containers he uses to serve up takeout meals could cost him thousands of dollars in an industry where profit margins already are razor thin.

BJ's Kountry Kitchen, in the heart of California's farm country, uses about 26,000 of the 9-inch foam clamshells a year, mostly for takeout by the customers who come in for the restaurant's popular breakfast omelets.

"We put cheese on those omelets. And when we put the cheese on, it's really hot and bubbly and it goes right through the biodegradable stuff," he said. He expects his costs would more than double if the state requires him to use only biodegradable cartons.

The bill by Democratic state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, would prohibit restaurants, grocery stores and other vendors from dispensing food in expanded polystyrene containers, commonly known as Styrofoam, beginning in 2016. If signed into law, the measure would make California the first to institute a statewide ban on such containers. More than 50 California cities and counties already have similar bans.

The bill would exempt school districts and city and county jurisdictions if they implemented programs that recycled more than 60 percent of their foam waste.

Lowenthal said litter from the foam containers is one of the most abundant forms of debris found in city streets, sewers and beaches.

"It's not biodegradable, it's not compostable, and if it's in the water for a long time, it breaks up into small beads and lasts for thousands of years. It costs millions to clean up beaches," he said.

San Francisco banned polystyrene containers in 2007, but the city's ingrained emphasis on conservation made the switch relatively easy, said Rob Black, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association.

"I do know that many of the restaurants had already started a transition to compostable or biodegradable containers, so it was actually not as big of a transition as people might think because it was already something that was happening within the culture here," he said.

Other jurisdictions across the country have banned Styrofoam, including Suffolk County in New York and the coastal city of Freeport, Maine.

Opponents of the bill say it fails to address the root cause of litter — the litterers themselves. Litterbugs will toss out the containers whether they're made of polystyrene or biodegradable cardboard, said Michael Westerfield, corporate director of recycling for Dart Container.

"At the end of the day, people that litter don't care what type of product they're littering," he said.

Dart, one of two companies in California that make the Styrofoam products, employs about 600 people in the state. The company already makes the biodegradable alternative, but the two California plants are incapable of producing anything other than the Styrofoam material.

"If you get rid of manufacturers like Dart, how do you know all the alternative materials will come from California? The reality is, they won't," he said.

The California Chamber of Commerce has labeled the measure as one of its "job-killer bills," saying it threatens manufacturing jobs while increasing costs for restaurants that will have to spend more on alternative containers.

Honeycutt estimates he will have to spend more than twice as much on biodegradable containers if he is forced to switch. Because hot food melts through the cardboard, he said his Fresno restaurant will have to use two cardboard packages for every order, driving costs up even further.

"That doesn't seem too smart," he said.

The hot food in Styrofoam containers is just one of the reasons Clean Water Action, a national environmental advocacy group based in Washington D.C., decided to sponsor the bill, said Miriam Gordon, the group's California state director.

While the group is worried about litter's impact on the environment, the chemicals used to manufacture the foam products also are dangerous to consumers.

"We're concerned about the public health threat. A typical foam container leaches styrene when it's in contact with heat, fats, grease or acids," Gordon said.

Styrene, a chemical used to make the foam containers, was listed as "reasonably anticipated" to be a human carcinogen in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Report on Carcinogens, issued in June. The report lists substances that are reasonably anticipated or known to put people at risk for cancer.

Yet the danger of styrene leaching out is low, said John Bucher, associate director of the National Toxicology Program, a division of the federal agency.

"The risks, in my estimation, from polystyrene are not very great," he said. "It's not worth being concerned about."

Tim Shestek, senior director of state affairs at the American Chemistry Council, agreed and said concern about negative health effects "is not supported by scientific information." The group, based in Washington, D.C., is lobbying against the bill.

SB568 was approved in June by the state Senate and is being considered in the Assembly.

Edited August 29, 2011 by Why_Me

[Ban Hammer 13,554]

wouldn't it make more sense to increase the fines for littering?

[mawilson 2,133]

wouldn't it make more sense to increase the fines for littering?

What do you suggest people do with non-biodegradable containers? They'll still end up in some landfill and remain there for millennia.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

You don't like it, stay out of California.

Opponents of the bill say it fails to address the root cause of litter — the litterers themselves. Litterbugs will toss out the containers whether they're made of polystyrene or biodegradable cardboard, said Michael Westerfield, corporate director of recycling for Dart Container.

Most of the litter is caused by illegal dumping and by the refuse companies themselves, when they fail to adequately cover their loads, or get out of their trucks, and pick up the mess they made when dumping containers. You can follow the transfer trucks down the highway, and watch stuff flying off the top of the boxes.

[slim 1,533]

Most of the litter is caused by illegal dumping

Don't worry, they'll get amnesty soon.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Simple solution Kip, stay the ** out of California. Not like anyone here wants you to come to this state anyways.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Simple solution Kip, stay the ** out of California. Not like anyone here wants you to come to this state anyways.

Can I have a cool custom member title that hasn't been translated by the mods yet?

http://www.google.com/search?q=Póg+mo+thóin!

[Captain Oates 911]

I agree with Charles that the prob is the people who litter

They should be arrested dateline style (face shoved into the dirt and a gun in their ear) and their immigration status checked

Their cells could be 4 feet deep in used pizza/fried egg/mexican food containers collected by such inmates working in chain gangs on the beach at 2am and guarded by psychologically disturbed pit bulls and armed guards with tiger slugs in 12 gauge auto shotguns

Their food would be scrapings from these containers during the 27 years of their incarceration (no parole)

97.45% of the American public would vote for that. The other 2.55% live in Texas and think that is too wishy-washy liberal and would favor the perps being strapped to a stake and fed to packs of timber wolves at at a privatised zoo thus reducing their costs and leaving more profit for the job-creators

Problem solved

Edited August 29, 2011 by Alan the Red

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Seems like fast food containers ought to be biodegradable.... Why would anyone object to this?

[The_Dude 1,142]

Can I have a cool custom member title that hasn't been translated by the mods yet?

http://www.google.com/search?q=Póg+mo+thóin!

Bill, I have had this member title for longer than you've even been on VJ. Do you really care about "kiss my #######" in gaelic, or just being a cantankerous git again?

Edited August 29, 2011 by Master Baiter

[slim 1,533]

Seems like fast food containers ought to be biodegradable.... Why would anyone object to this?

Because maybe they ought to be. But, why are they required to be?

There's a disconnect between people who think there should be mandatory things and optional things. Choice goes a long way in this country.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Yeah, straight into landfill apparently.

[Captain Oates 911]

Bill, I have had this member title for longer than you've even been on VJ. Do you really care about "kiss my #######" in gaelic, or just being a cantankerous git again?

Right moithered wit Chelpin & Chunterin > The tyke version of the Gaelic 'pig my loins' is 'tharzawazack' and google translator is mercifully silent on such sprache though people sometimes try Polish without result.

Tyke

Edited August 29, 2011 by Alan the Red

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Seems like fast food containers ought to be biodegradable.... Why would anyone object to this?

I'd like to see these types of restaurants encourage patrons to bring their own beverage containers, by offering them a lower price for a drink, as well as offering reusable plates and utensils for those who eat at the establishment. Fast food is notorious for creating a lot of unnecessary garbage.

[Captain Oates 911]

I'd like to see these types of restaurants encourage patrons to bring their own beverage containers, by offering them a lower price for a drink, as well as offering reusable plates and utensils for those who eat at the establishment. Fast food is notorious for creating a lot of unnecessary garbage.

The sight of 10 thousand drunks staggering home at 3am and all holding their own Bavarian Steins that they had brought with them would be interesting