Businessmen in San Francisco will soon be considered outlaws if they continue to use Styrofoam containers, cups, packing peanuts, toys, dock floats and other polystyrene products.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Tuesday to ban an extensive list polystyrene materials. The directive will go into effect Jan. 1, 2017. Those who require meat and fish trays will have until July 1, 2017, to find an alternative.
Michael Mechanic, Mother Jones senior editor, was ecstatic with the news.
“Motherf—-in’ packing peanuts just banned in San Fran — along with all other Styrofoam. Yay!” he tweeted Wednesday.
Dow Chemical Company, which owns the Styrofoam brand, did not issue a statement.
The city’s ban is similar to one passed in Washington, D.C., in January for the food service industry, but goes much further, Time magazine reported Wednesday.
A similar measure was overturned in New York City by the State Supreme Court in Manhattan in September 2015.
Supervisor President London Breed has pushed for a polystyrene ban since April, saying at the time, “This stuff is an environmental and public health pollutant, and we have to reduce its use. There are ample cost effective alternatives to Styrofoam on the market.”
Critics of the decision struck a resigned note.
“What can you do in San Francisco?” Mariah Smith wrote on a local NBC affiliate’s Facebook page on Wednesday.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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