South Lake Tahoe OKs ban on Styrofoam food containers
Submitted by editor on Tue, 04/03/2018 - 6:44pm
South Lake Tahoe joins at least 114 other California cities and municipalities in banning polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam, a type of plastic manufactured from non-renewable fossil fuels and synthetic chemicals that is not biodegradable and has become a concern across the country.
Beginning Oct. 1, 2018, certain single use expanded polystyrene and plastic products will be banned in the South Lake Tahoe city limits "in order to reduce and prevent the presence of this type of litter in the environment and to promote environmentally sustainable practices."
Included in the ban:
— No food provider shall sell or otherwise provide prepared food in EPS disposable food service ware.
— No vendor shall sell or otherwise provide EPS food service ware or expanded Polystyrene products, including foam coolers, cups, plates, to-go products.
— No person shall use EPS food service ware or Expanded Polystyrene Products at a South Lake Tahoe city facility or at a special event regulated by the City of South Lake Tahoe's approved Special Event Guidelines.
— No food provider shall sell or otherwise provide plastic cutlery, plastic beverage straws or plastic stirrers except upon request.
Polystyrene comes in two forms: expanded polystyrene foam, which is made into cups, plates, take-out food containers, and packing materials, and solid polystyrene, which gets turned into plastic forks, CD and DVD cases, even smoke detector housings.
Styrofoam is how most of us usually refer to EPS, but that is actually a term trademarked by Dow Chemical.
The problem of many of the products addressed by the new ordinance is that they are both lightweight and aerodynamic, and thus able to be blown around and ended up in the lake, fields, meadows, gutters and storm drains, even when properly disposed of.
Products are very brittle and break into small pieces easily, making cleanup an almost impossible task. Once broken down, wildlife think they are food items and ingest which can lead to choking or starvation.
Exemptions:
The following are exempt from the ordinance at this time:
— Food prepared or packaged outside of the City, provided such food is not altered or repackaged within the South Lake Tahoe city limits.
— Raw meat, fish and other raw food trays.
— Products made from expanded polystyrene which are wholly encapsulated or encased by a more durable material. Examples include surfboards, life preservers, and craft supplies which are wholly encapsulated or encased by a more durable material, and coolers encased in hard plastic.
Businesses may become exempt from the ban if, after one year, the conditions of the ordinance can be shown as causing a financial hardship or where "no reasonably feasible alternative exists to a specific and necessary Expanded Polystyrene Product."
Fines:
For a first violation can lead up to a $100 find, a second violation up to $200, and up to $500 for each additional violation of the ordinance within a year.
See SouthTahoeNow.com for updates to this and other stories.
