A bill proposed by Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti aims to prevent restaurants and food vendors statewide from using polystyrene-based containers to package leftover meals.
The bill, which was referred to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection on Oct. 9, aims to curtail the negative impact of polystyrene foam both on the environment and on human health.
Food vendors, as cited in the bill, include any store or shop, including grocery stores and delis. If the bill were to be passed, violators would face a $500 fine for each infraction. To-go orders would not be affected.
Abinanti, a Democrat who represents Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant, called it a “simple” bill, one that incorporates bits and pieces of smaller bills limiting the use of polystyrene that have already been passed. He said it was a “reasonable alternative” to a 2014 bill that would completely ban polystyrene foam in New York restaurants that never came to a vote.
“What we”™re trying to do is protect the health of the environment and the health of our residents,” said Abinanti, also a member of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee. “We”™re trying to stimulate or encourage restaurants to develop environmentally safe alternatives. There are alternatives available today. This type of legislation will encourage even more additional types.”
He cited plastics, cardboard, wax cardboard and aluminum as “practical” and recyclable alternatives that restaurants can adopt instead of foam clam shell containers. Another danger he was concerned about was the potential leaching of carcinogens into food if kept stored in the material for an extended period of time or if microwaved in the packaging.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2011 listed styrene, the main component in polystyrene, as a possible carcinogen.
Jay Holland, the government affairs coordinator for the New York State Restaurant Association, the group that represents more than 7,000 state restaurants, said alternatives to polystyrene are generally more expensive, but did not have average price figures immediately available.
New York City”™s ban on polystyrene containers, which went into effect on July 1, was overturned last month by state Supreme Court Judge Margaret Chin, who said evidence showed the material could be recycled at a manageable cost.
Holland”™s main qualm with Abinanti”™s bill would be the confusion created in restaurants during its busiest hours.
“The kitchen will be able to use Styrofoam containers for takeout business, but not for doggy bags, so you would have to educate staff on which to use when,” Holland said. “It doesn”™t seem like a comprehensive way to go about regulating.”
Restaurateur Louie Lanza, who operates restaurants in Westchester and New York City, said he was in favor of the bill because of its potential to benefit the environment. He already uses recycled cardboard to package leftovers for his customers.
“I agree 100 percent with the bill,” he said. “For me, it”™s environmental. The (containers) I use cost 10 cents more, but it”™s worth it.”
Roughly 100 U.S. municipalities have passed laws limiting the use of polystyrene, including New York City and Albany and Suffolk counties as well as Minneapolis, San Francisco, Oakland, Portland and Seattle. McDonald”™s announced in September 2013 it would phase out its well-known polystyrene cups in favor of paper-based ones.
Abinanti”™s bill has drawn support from the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York City-based environmental action group. Eric A. Goldstein, a senior attorney with the organization, said compostable containers made from sugar cane or corn are available at a minimal cost difference as well as refillable cups for beverages.
He cited a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency figure that estimates 25 billion nonrecyclable polystyrene foam cups are disposed of improperly each year. The material, Goldstein said, is lightweight and travels easily through storm drains where it eventually litters beaches and waterways after breaking into tiny pieces.
“They”™re useful for a minute, but an environmental problem for centuries,” Goldstein said.
The reason major cities, including green cities like Portland, Seattle and San Jose aren”™t recycling polystyrene is because it isn”™t economically feasible, he said. The village of Ossining Board of Trustees in June approved a resolution in support of a proposed county law that would limit the use of plastic bags and polystyrene containers by retail stores. That bill was introduced to the Westchester County Board of Legislators last November by Rye Democrat Catherine Parker and co-sponsored by Ossining Democrat Catherine Borgia.
Abinanti, who admitted he has already received pushback from the restaurant industry, called his bill “doable” and did not anticipate much resistance from diners.
“You don”™t have to worry about the presentation of food in a doggy bag and you don”™t have to worry about the temperature of the food,” Abinanti said.
“We”™re not impacting the number of containers being used,” he said. “Just the type of container. Which is an appropriate thing for government to do.”
