I Support a Styrofoam Container Ban for Encinitas

Polystyrene products (Styrofoam) are designed to be disposable and, therefore, have a useful life of only minutes or hours. Yet, it takes several decades to hundreds of years for polystyrene to deteriorate in the environment or landfill. Instead, it merely breaks down into smaller pieces that litter City streets, parks, open spaces, beaches and ocean. There is currently no meaningful recycling of food service polystyrene products, due in part to contamination from food residue. Alternative products, which are biodegradable, reusable and/or recyclable, are readily available at reasonable cost. Therefore, I urge the City of Encinitas to adopt an ordinance to phase-out the use of polystyrene containers by June 2010.