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Say Goodbye to Polystyrene Foam Containers, Packing Peanuts
By
Lauren Evans
Published Jun 30, 2015
Modified Jun 30, 2015
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Jun 30, 2015
Modified Jun 30, 2015
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It's been on the table for two years, and now, finally, today is the last day you'll see anything packed in pernicious polystyrene foam. Better late than never!
You've interacted with polystyrene foam in various capacities over the years, though coffee cups, takeout containers and packing peanuts are its most common manifestations. It was banned in January because not only is it utterly resistant to recycling, it also does not biodegrade, meaning it sits around in landfills for hundreds of years.
The City Council passed a law in December of 2013 giving the city's Department of Sanitation two years to research whether the foam could be recycled. It took only one year to determine that such a thing was not possible.
In January, Mayor Bill de Blasio touted the environmental benefits of cutting the foam from the city's waste stream, a move he said will reduce around 30,000 tons of the stuff each year.
“These products cause real environmental harm and have no place in New York City," he said at the time. "We have better options, better alternatives, and if more cities across the country follow our lead and institute similar bans, those alternatives will soon become more plentiful and will cost less."
This does not, unfortunately, mark the end of all foam. Exceptions have been made for prepackaged foods sealed prior to arrival at food service establishments, and for containers used to store "raw meat, pork, fish, seafood or poultry sold from a butcher case or similar retail appliance." Nor are foam blocks used as protective packaging banned.
Retailers have until January 1st to cut out the foam before they are hit with citations.
Tagged
foam
polystyrene foam
Lauren Evans
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