Bloomberg Calls For Styrofoam Ban

During his final State Of The City address, today NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg will call for a ban on the usage of styrofoam containers by restaurants, food carts, vending machines, or any business that holds a city license to sell beverages or meals. Via Consumerist:

“One product that is virtually impossible to recycle and never bio-degrades is styrofoam,” Bloomberg is planning on saying. “Something that we know is environmentally destructive and that may be hazardous to our health, that is costing taxpayers money and that we can easily do without, and is something that should go the way of lead paint.” That plastic foam makes up about 20,000 tons of the city’s waste each year, said the mayor’s office. A ban would need to be approved by the City Council and if it goes through, will join similar actions taken in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Things are getting very West Coast around here, eh?

As someone who has his lunch delivered almost every day, I can tell you that the amount of styrofoam containers I receive is crazy.  You can bet that Bloomberg will get a huge push back on this from the restaurant industry, just as he did with his ban on "large sugary drinks," which is now facing a lawsuit from the NAACP and a coalition of Hispanic groups, who contend that the ban will hurt minority businesses.

NOTE: Dow Chemical has issued a press release clarifying that Styrofoam is their trademarked product now used exclusively for insulation. What Bloomberg is referring to is properly known as "extruded polystyrene."