New York City restaurants and government agencies could soon face a ban on Styrofoam-type fast food containers if the City Council passes a bill introduced yesterday.City Council Bill Would Take Out City's Styrofoam
Covered by the ban would be containers created from polystyrene, a petroleum- based material that doesn't decompose or easily compact, causing them to take up significant landfill space. The material can also release toxic chemicals when heated in a microwave, according to a report by an environmental group, Earth Resource Foundation. A component of the material, the chemical styrene, is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency.
10 comments:
Ohh great, now watch the libertarians complain as usual about big government abusing our right to pollute.
I support this ban, and hope that if will force our businesses to think green. If tey don't, expect more eco-friendly coercive laws.
"Rinsing out tuna cans and tying up newspapers may make you feel virtuous, but recycling could be America's most wasteful activity"...from the highly controversial John Tierney article found in the NYTimes Magazine of 6/30/96
[http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/
appenda.asp]
If Americans threw out their garbage at current rates, the article maintains et al., in 1000 years the landfill needed would be only a 100 yard deep hole, 35 square miles in area.
There is plenty of landfill available in the rest of the country.
It wastes more energy to wash a ceramic coffee cop with hot water than to produce ten styrofoam ones.
Environmentally "correct" cardboard and paper do not disintegrate quickly in landfills.
Styrofoam and plastics are being manufactured thinner and thinner: 12 plastic bags take up the space of just 1 paper bag.
Sorry folks, the above link might not work...Just Google "Recycling is Garbage" and you'll find the article.
Fast food restaurants are really getting hit hard: first the ban on trans fat, now styrofoam. Maybe with a little more pressure they'll be forced to close.
PS One of these days Crappy has to share his secret of how to insert an active link into a comment, which would eliminate the sort of trouble that george just had, which also happened to me a while back.
How to link
" ... classified as a possible human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency."
When the very busy City Council finishes its ban on Styrofoam food containers, would it take a moment or two to examine the artificial turf planned for city parks and school playgrounds?
After all, it too, has been determined to be a possible human carcinogen by reputable scientists.
Or, is it politically incorrect to question the actions of Bloomberg and/or his commissioners, but OK to punish private citizens and business?
Especially when there is a gigantic pot of money involved with the artificial turf.
Is this not the same type of Styrofoam
insulating material that sheathes the exterior
of many buildings before the mesh lath and final Euro-Stucco face coat is applied ?
What happens to the toxins that are released into the air
during more extreme heating conditions........
i.e. 90-100 degree summer temperatures.....or a fire? !!!
This is great--
San Francisco has already done this
I got a better idea, get rid of the city council, that will do wonders for the environment of NYC.
Start with that rapist pig, Dennis Gallagher.
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