Styrofoam Free Capital Region

Why refuse to use Styrofoam?

Styrofoam (polystyrene) food containers are NOT recyclable and NOT compostable. We use them for 10 minutes, and they end up in our landfills where they last 500 years. They never fully biodegrade but just break up into smaller and smaller pieces. These pieces end up in our rivers and oceans where fish, birds and turtles eat them thinking they’re food. Styrofoam pollutes our fish, our food chain and was recently discovered in bottled water from around the world. Riverkeeper identifies Styrofoam pieces as the most common pollutant in the Hudson River. According to the World Economic Forum, by 2050 the oceans will have more plastic than fish unless we can turn our habits around.

It’s a probable human carcinogen

According to the Report on Carcinogens, US Department of Health and Human Services, 2016, "Styrene is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen." International research shows the leaching of styrene into food and beverages from Styrofoam containers occurs.

It’s poisoning our environment and burdening our landfills

In 2016 the Albany County Department of Health supported the ban stating that it recognized "the potential environmental impact and benefit of reducing the non-biodegradable waste burden in landfills."

It’s not worth recycling

On June 5, 2018 the NYS Supreme Court upheld the NYC Styrofoam ban, deciding that NYC had proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that recycling Styrofoam is not "economically feasible nor environmentally sound."

10 TIPS FOR REPLACING STYROFOAM PRODUCTS

Some of these will save you $$$:

1. Wrap cold items such as sandwiches in butcher paper and wax paper sleeves. Wrap hot items in aluminum foil and paper coated with aluminum instead of always putting items in a box. This will save $$$ compared to always using a Styrofoam clamshell.
2. Use red & white checkered paper “French fry” boats. Most are not lined with plastic and are fully compostable. You can cover these with foil wrap if necessary.
3. Use tin foil containers with lids. They are almost the same price as foam, come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are infinitely recyclable.
4. Remember: for a product to be truly compostable, the word "Biodegradable" or "Earth friendly" is not enough. These words are meaningless “greenwashing”. Products must be approved BPI certified compostable in a commercial composting facility.
5. Uncoated paper plates and Chinet brand paper plates/bowls are easy to find and are fully compostable. Plates and cups that are shiny are lined with a thin layer of polyethylene plastic (not wax as some people think). They are not compostable nor recyclable.
6. Charge extra for customers who want a take-out box. 10-20 cents will easily cover the difference in cost and is not a big burden to customers.
7. Offer a discount if a customer brings their own containers. Even a nickel discount will still save your business money.
8. Give a “charity” token to a customer every time she/he brings a reusable container. The customer then gets to choose which charity box in your store to put the token in. For every token, your business donates 5 cents to that charity.
9. Cups: Use recyclable plastic or commercially compostable cups (must say “compostable” on the packaging). Small paper “bathroom” cups and cones that are not lined with plastic polyethylene are compostable too. Cups lined with plastic polyethylene cannot be recycled or composted.
10. If only a lidded container will do, we’ve listed some “go to websites” below. Prices are coming down. Search in your browser line for "compostable take out containers.” There are more supply companies being listed every day!