Council Agrees to Styrofoam Ban
After more than a year of public discussion, the Long Beach City Council at its meeting on Oct. 17 voted unanimously to move forward with a phased-in ban on single-use food and beverage containers made of polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam, recognized as a human carcinogen and major source of pollution.
The City Council agreed to a phased-in approach primarily to give small restaurants more time to comply, as business owners have raised concerns that being forced to purchase more environmentally-friendly food packaging and to-go container alternatives will be another “mandated cost” from the city.
The ordinance, which comes nearly six years after the city banned single-use plastic bags for similar environmental reasons, prohibits the use of disposable food containers made of expanded polystyrene foam (Styrofoam), rigid polystyrene No. 6 and non-recyclable and non-compostable materials.
According to city staff, more than 100 jurisdictions in California have already banned or regulate polystyrene, with the majority being beach cities. Polystyrene, which takes hundreds of years to biodegrade and is difficult to recover when broken down, remains a major source of pollution on the beach and in the environment and is harmful to public health, according to city officials as well as environmental groups and health organizations.
City officials said the city plans to implement the ban not only in a phased-in process but will attempt to work with local businesses to ensure compliance.
“This isn’t an attack on small business,” said 1st District Councilmember Lena Gonzalez, who brought the item forward. “In fact, we want to be your friend in this process. We understand that there are a lot of burdens on small business owners and we think that this is our opportunity to work with you not against you.”
The city’s ban is being implemented in three phases. First, Styrofoam containers would be banned at city facilities and events three months after the ordinance’s adoption. After nine months, the ban would extend to large restaurants (with 101 seats or more), including fast-food chains and food trucks. After 18 months, all small restaurants and food establishments would be forced to comply.
The final phase would also include a ban on retail sales of bean bag chairs, disposable ice chests and craft materials or beads made of polystyrene.
Additionally, the City Council agreed to conduct a study on the measurable impacts of the first two phases of the ban after 12 months of implementation. This would allow the council to weigh options in rolling out the final phase before implementing the ban on small businesses.
“That allows us, as a body, to review the information before the implementation of the small business portion, so we can make any adjustments necessary based on the information received,” said 3rd District Councilmember Suzie Price, who requested the study. “We might have to tweak the roll out.”
The ordinance also includes some exemptions, such as: allowing businesses already under contract to exhaust existing inventory of polystyrene materials; allowances on a case-by-case basis if there are no reasonable alternatives; and, in some instances, granting “undue hardship” waivers.
In addition, the city plans to provide some financial incentives for businesses, such as recognition or certification of early compliance, as well as a comprehensive public education campaign, including promoting the use of reusable containers that customers can bring from home and a public hotline.
Still, some small business owners and representatives of the restaurant industry expressed concerns that being forced to purchase easily recyclable food containers as opposed to polystyrene containers, which some say is more expensive, only puts more financial burden on restaurants already struggling to deal with higher sales taxes, rising lease rates, increasing food prices and higher minimum wage mandates.
Neil Strawder, owner of Bigmista’s Barbecue and Sammich Shop in East Long Beach, told the Beachcomber in an interview that, according to his research, food containers considered to be recyclable and better for the environment are three to five times more expensive than Styrofoam containers.
“It’s going to cost more,” he said. “It’s kind of like a mandated cost for us.”
Strawder said the city should focus on preventing people from littering or prohibit companies from manufacturing Styrofoam containers rather than making small businesses take on such cost burdens.
“I’d be all for changing to a different product if there was an affordable alternative,” he said. “Put the pressure on these companies that are producing these products to lower their costs. Then we have something to talk about. We don’t have the resources that the big corporations have that we can absorb those types of costs.”
Diko Melkonian, the city’s environmental services bureau manager, who gave a presentation on the ordinance, said the city’s health department will be able to absorb its compliance enforcement duties in its annual visits to restaurants for health code inspections. He said the health department will work with the environmental services bureau to ensure compliance and take an “educational” or “collaborative” approach to enforcement.
“[Health department staff] use a very educational approach when dealing with restaurants, very much the carrot as opposed to the stick, and, especially with a new ordinance, they’re going to look at it very sensitively and work with the businesses to ensure compliance,” he said. “We want to have a collaborative approach. This is not intended to beat anybody up. It’s intended to work with [businesses] to help them comply.”
Melkonian said the ultimate goal of the city ordinance is to: “reduce litter on our streets and beaches and prevent that pollution from getting into our ocean and habitats: reduce the public’s contact with harmful chemicals; and to promote the use of reusable items over single-use items.”
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