City Council Bill Would Take Out City's Styrofoam

New York City restaurants and government agencies could soon face a ban on Styrofoam-type fast food containers if the City Council passes a bill introduced yesterday.

"It is mind-boggling that our city, which is becoming a leader on environmental issues, is still using Styrofoam when we know it is extremely harmful to our environment and creating massive amounts of waste," the bill's sponsor, Council Member Bill de Blasio, a Democrat of Brooklyn, said. The ban would affect all restaurants and delis; among city agencies, the Department of Education alone uses more than 153 million trays a year in its school cafeterias.

The manager of the Manhattan restaurant Kiran, Amit Saha, said his customers appreciate the separate compartments in the Styrofoam-type boxes he uses for his lunch buffet, particularly when eating different foods with sauces.

"I can put it in aluminum, but the food mixes up," Mr. Shaha, said. "Like chicken curry — how are you going to put the rice with this? It's going to mix up without the three compartments."

Covered by the ban would be containers created from polystyrene, a petroleum-based material that doesn't decompose or easily compact, causing them to take up significant landfill space. The material can also release toxic chemicals when heated in a microwave, according to a report by an environmental group, Earth Resource Foundation. A component of the material, the chemical styrene, is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"The problem is it doesn't decompose, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces," Earth Resource's executive director, Stephanie Barger, said. "We haven't been around to see how long it takes — it could be anywhere from 100 to 500 years."

Alternatives to Styrofoam-type containers include wax-coated paper containers, Ms. Barger said, and researchers are developing inexpensive bamboo containers and "bioplastics" out of corn or soy starches. The Styrofoam-type containers are typically used because they are inexpensive, she added.

Under the bill, the penalty for providing the containers would be a fine of up to $500 for the first violation and up to $1,000 for consequent violations, and each use of the packaging would be a separate violation.

The first cities to ban the containers were Berkeley, Calif., and Portland, Ore. When San Francisco enacted a ban on the material in June, restaurants replaced Styrofoam-type boxes with biodegradable substitutes that take-out customers said began decomposing when exposed to the heat and moisture of the food they held.

Mr. de Blasio's bill echoes calls by Parents Against Styrofoam in Schools, a group advocating that the Education Department switch to reusable plastic trays or trays that are biodegradable.

Earlier this summer, a state senator introduced similar legislation that would ban all Styrofoam-type containers in the food service industry, and would require them to phase out the products within one year.