By banning stryofoam, New York City can be just like San Francisco and Berkeley, Portland,  Freeport, Maine, Santa Cruz, California,
Santa Monica, California, Sonoma County, California, Malibu, California
and San Clemente, California.

At a meeting today, Council Member Bill de Blasio will introduce legislation to prohibit the use of Styrofoam by City agencies and food establishments.

"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. It is unacceptable that the DOE is
using Styrofoam, a substance that once it hits our landfills stays
there forever." De Blasio is quoted as saying in the press release sent by his office today. Here’s the rest of the press release.

Blasio’s bill would ban the use of Styrofoam by all city agencies. The Department of Education (DOE), for example, goes through 850,000 Styrofoam trays a day which add up to over 4 million trays per week and over 153 million per school year. In June, Councilmember de Blasio joined Parents Against Styrofoam in Schools ( P.A.S.S.) to call on the DOE to switch to either reusable plastic trays or trays that are biodegradable.

Polystyrene, more widely known as Styrofoam, is composed of Benzene, Styrene and Ethylene, which are all listed on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s hazardous substance list. Styrofoam is virtually immune to biological decomposition and also resists compacting and therefore, by volume, consumes more landfill space than other types of materials, such as paper. Due to the physical properties of polystyrene foam, the EPA states, "that such materials can also have serious impacts on human health, wildlife, the aquatic environment and the economy."

The legislation will also include a ban on Styrofoam "to-go" containers used by city restaurants and delis. The bill states that "no owner, operator or employee of a food establishment shall place, wrap, or otherwise package food or beverages in packaging made of polystyrene foam or offer for sale food or beverages packed in such material."