Dive Brief:

• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that expanded polystyrene will be banned in New York City beginning on July 1.
• Retailers, restaurants, and food manufacturers will be banned from using polystyrene cups or containers. Fines will be issued starting in 2016, with warnings issued for any violations that occur prior to that time.
• New York City is following the lead of other metropolitan areas around the U.S. Minneapolis, MN banned polystyrene containers in 2014, Seattle, WA’s ban took effect in 2009, and vendors in San Francisco, CA are already prohibited from serving food in the containers. 

Dive Insight:

The decision to ban polystyrene containers was based on a law passed in December 2013, when New York City Council passed a bill under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to ban take-out containers unless they were recyclable. The deadline imposed on the City of New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to determine the material’s recyclability was January 1.

Mayor de Blasio’s administration estimates 30,000 tons of expanded polystyrene will be removed from the city’s waste stream after the law takes effect. The city collected approximately 28,500 tons of expanded polystyrene in 2014, 90% of which originated as cups and food containers.