California Styrofoam Ban: State Aims To Be The First To Ban Foam Containers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Restaurant owner Gary Honeycutt says a push in California's state Legislature to ban the plastic foam containers he uses to serve up takeout meals could cost him thousands of dollars in an industry where profit margins already are razor thin.

BJ's Kountry Kitchen, in the heart of California's farm country, uses about 26,000 of the 9-inch foam clamshells a year, mostly for takeout by the customers who come in for the restaurant's popular breakfast omelets.

He expects his costs would more than double if the state requires him to use only biodegradable cartons.

The bill would prohibit restaurants, grocery stores and other vendors from dispensing food in expanded polystyrene containers, commonly known as Styrofoam, beginning in 2016. If signed into law, the measure would make California the first to institute a statewide ban on such containers.

Comments

[supergenius02]

12:27 PM on 09/01/2011

The Democrats in California are running the state into the ground. Instead of doing something about the record state budget deficit, record unemployment, corporations leaving the state in droves taking jobs with them, and record poverty, the Democrat controlled legislature concentrates on styrofoam containers and plastic bags at supermarkets. This is pure legislative malpractice.

[Moose Luck 99]

11:27 AM on 08/31/2011

We have paper take out containers in NH. That is the preferred product.

What In The World Are They Spraying?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA

Maui Update
http://farmwars.info/?p=6098

Mohave Minute Men
Extreme Levels Of Barium in Blood (Chemtrails?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ06xT_vFao

Alucha County Florida
Chemtrail complaints heard by County Environmental Protection Committee -Wake Up!-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmsCqiuo2pk
The soluble salts of barium, an alkaline earth metal, are toxic in mammalian systems. They are absorbed rapidly from the gastrointestinal tract...

[jgreen3947]

10:57 AM on 08/31/2011

I'm prochoice on styrofoam because I'm notafascist

[butchcliff]

06:10 AM on 08/31/2011

Remember when fish and chips came wrapped in newspaper. This proposed ban on styrofoam could be a good thing. Have not seen many styro containers in take outs lately, except for the ones thrown on the ground.

[gsocratesasks]

02:08 PM on 08/31/2011

Hmmm.. newspaper ink..

[Genders]

12:05 AM on 08/31/2011

Bio char it, no problem, except, Styrofoam outgases all sort of toxic solvents. There a plenty of safer replacements, do a quick Google search and you can buy all you want. The replacments should have been the point of this article.

but this article was meant to evoke an emotional reaction against over reaching government regulation.

Right?

[gsocratesasks]

02:09 PM on 08/31/2011

Toxic solvents?... do they come in a green drum..lol

[Genders]

02:37 PM on 08/31/2011

Try using chunks of styrofoam instead of rock in the bottom of you potted plants, and the plants will die.

[Genders]

03:04 PM on 08/31/2011

http://sites.healthebay.org/currentissues/polystyrene/default.asp
Styrofoam kills lots of animals and will harm people, I would call that toxic, as well.

Laugh it up fur ball....;)

[David Vorhies]

11:35 PM on 08/30/2011

Californians Need to Ban the Legislators from office because they Waste Money Passing the dumbest measures in state history!!!!

[jgreen3947]

10:55 AM on 08/31/2011

yep. Another complete waste of time.

[plooger]

10:50 PM on 08/30/2011

Good to see Huff Post adopting Right Wing framing of the issues. Job killer?

[flyinghogfish]

10:00 PM on 08/30/2011

I haven't seen much use of the styro clam shells for take out in a long time in my area, even at the big name corporate fast food places. Almost everyone in my area uses the recyclable clear plastic type or waxed cardboard. This guy is just whining and exaggerating the costs. If other businesses can be successful using alternatives so can he.

I'd like to see a total ban on all forms of Styrofoam packaging. While it can be recycled it very seldom is due to its bulk and the expense of collecting it and processing it. I would actually like to see laws passed that make the manufacturers and retailers of products responsible for the recycling or disposal of most forms of packaging. Then you might see some innovation in the way products are manufactured and delivered. It might even create a few jobs.

[flyinghogfish]

04:57 AM on 08/31/2011

I did a google and found that many communities have already banned styro containers. I guess that's why I haven't seen one in ages. I guess Cali is the first state to consider doing it statewide. Gofer it! The planet will thank you.

[timbeaux]

09:42 PM on 08/30/2011

Well, of course, we will. We've already banned plastic shopping bags out here and, in Santa Monica, paper bags as well. This is all a plot to get us used to buying only as much food as we can carry in our cupped hands to prepare us for the future, in which we will have 238 trillionaires, 79,976,000 fat, well-paid government employees, and 300 million people living at or below the poverty line.

[frantaylor]

04:03 AM on 08/31/2011

Poor baby forgets to bring his shopping bag to the store with him

Find someone else to blame it on

Poor little victim

[jgreen3947]

10:56 AM on 08/31/2011

yes..the ban means you have to buy bags yourself.. gee thanks

[vetxcl]

09:31 PM on 08/30/2011

Styrofoam is widely known to be toxic. And it poisons many living animals, even after it is done being used by humans.
There are other methods to insulate your convenience foods that make you obese. Heck, just eating the food should provide adequate insulation. Recycled cardboard containers are already being made and sold, for one example - as the article alludes to. In any event, there are still microwaves that are readily available, once said fried or grilled convenience food is brought home. So, lookie there: still two ways to damage your health! And take heart, the restaurant could still use aluminum foil ( a toxic metal ), so all you need to do is keep the take-home in the fridge for a day or so, in order for some of the aluminum to come off on the food inside. (Adding yet another way for you to stand up for your poor health rights.)
The more demand for responsible products there is, the more jobs there will be for people employed in companies that produce responsible products. Have we gotten over all the lost jobs that the Tabbaco Companies suffered yet? No? Oh, well.
Bulk discount rates are'nt mentioned. Larger amounts ordered do drive costs of individual units down.
Maybe, whomever did the cost estimates for the Kuntry Kitchun had the intent of exaggerating the projected costs of the revamp to make the case for not implimenting the changes.

[MagCA68]

08:15 PM on 08/30/2011

I most certainly would not allow the perspective of one single entity, that being the only one cited in this article, BJ's Kountry Kitchen, to skew my perspective of how this proposed ban would affect businesses and consumers. Particularly the fact that this restaurant owner is in fresNO. I'm surprised he didn't throw in how it was Obama's fault...

[jgreen3947]

06:45 PM on 08/30/2011

cals says...Cold burgers for you!

[MagCA68]

08:02 PM on 08/30/2011

Are you really still tr0//ing on here?

[jgreen3947]

10:57 AM on 08/31/2011

are you still wanting the govt to take away choice?

[oscar420]

06:40 PM on 08/30/2011

Legalize the production of Hemp and we can make cartons at a very cheap price and pass on those savings to the consumer! Made in the USA baby! :o)

[dutchdragonfly]

07:39 PM on 08/30/2011

Got my vote!
#65

[MagCA68]

08:02 PM on 08/30/2011

Exactly what I was thinking.

[mikey09]

06:27 PM on 08/30/2011

Don't like the stuff myself, comes in everything, got a microwave the other day packed in the stuff. But, one question, where is the stuff made? Is it made in the USA?....Reason I ask is I thought getting rid of the old light bulbs was a good idea, but it ended up costing lots of American's a job, and no company makes the new light bulbs in the USA......so will this ban cost jobs and will the replacement be made in a foreign country??? Burning candles made in the USA, can't buy a domestic light bulb....lol

[MagCA68]

08:04 PM on 08/30/2011

I think a better question is: Why are American companies making a living off of American dollars not employing Americans?

[timbeaux]

09:44 PM on 08/30/2011

And, while you're on the subject, try to find an American-made solar panel. The "green" industries are sending almost all the green to China.

[gsuescum]

08:56 AM on 08/31/2011

Does that mean we just give up? With that attitude we'd be speaking German on the east coast and Japanese in California.

[mountainweb]

05:45 PM on 08/30/2011

Bottom line, biodegradable is the way to go, they just have to suck it up and switch...