Portland, Maine Close to Banning Styrofoam

Portland, Maine's City Council took a bold step Monday. They have directed a committee to draft an ordinance banning the sale of plastic foam in the city. The full story is here.

Image linked from original found at:
http://www.pressherald.com/news/styrofoam-ban-in-portland-within-reach_2012-06-20.html

Of course, in the comments section the vote has been pilloried by those who don't believe in government regulation, and predictably by those in the plastics industry.

I've added a comment of my own, as follows:

"I've been collecting and recording man-made plastic garbage blown & washed into local beaches here in Saco and now Biddeford for the past two years. The amount of styrofoam that blows up and down the coast and swirls in the oceans is sickening. Especially when there are biodegradable -- and often reusable -- options.


Styrofoam is one of the more toxic plastics to create. It's one of the more toxic plastics to incinerate. Worse, it's an example of exceptionally poor design. One gust and it blows away. (Out of hands, trash bins, dumpsters, and landfills.) One misplaced step and 1 foam cup explodes into 100 foam pieces that all blow their own way. It's so light and airy that it's not economically recyclable to any Materials Recovery Facility, including ecoMaine.


We pretend styrofoam is cheap. But that ignores the cost of safe waste disposal, city cleanups, storm drain/sewer backups, ocean cleanups, economic loss due to blight, and harm to wildlife -- including some of the endangered animals that we claim to love & respect. Every bit of foam that's ever blown away is still there. More every year. It doesn't go away. Nothing is known to digest it or break it back to its building blocks. Paying little now so our kids and grandkids can pay more later? Talk about "mortgaging our future."


There is plastic debris in all the ocean gyres of the world. It washes up on the most distant, pristine, beautiful places on the globe. And it washes up here in the Gulf of Maine. I applaud the effort of Portland's City Council to say "enough" to even part of the scourge."

If you agree that banning styrofoam is a step in the right direction, please drop a comment yourself!