Chicago Considers Ban on Foam To-Go Containers
Chicago may soon become the latest city to ban the use of polystyrene foam in city businesses, based on a proposed ban that was presented to the City Council last week, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.
Polystyrene foam is difficult to recycle because of its light weight. Photo: Flickr/josh.liba
If passed, the ban would impose fines of $300 for the first offense and $500 for additional violations for businesses that distribute foam plastic.
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association is denouncing the ban, arguing that foam plastic is a less expensive form of packaging and businesses are already struggling financially. City Hall would be allowed to grant exceptions to businesses if there was “no alternative that is both affordable and compostable.”
Because polystyrene foam is so light (it is comprised of 97 percent air), it is easily carried by wind and water currents to all reaches of our planet, and its unsinkable nature makes it a main component of marine debris.
Chicago is not the only city that has implemented restrictions on expanded polystyrene. San Francisco outlawed the material in 2007, and now 22 other California towns have followed suit. California was considering a statewide ban on to-go containers last year but tabled the legislation due financial hardship.
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As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
Dinesh Thiru
posted on February 22nd, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Trey – Solid right up. One thing to correct – There are actually 100+ cities across the country that have banned polystyrene (most in California).
I actually wrote up a blog post for the green buying cooperative I run just the other day listing the bans, whether they’re full or partial, the “effective date”, and linking out to city ordinances and articles for most of the major bans in cities & counties across the country.