San Francisco expands ban on polystyrene foam products

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously June 28, 2016, to ban a range of polystyrene foam products, according to an article in the San Francisco Examiner. 

Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, polystyrene foam food packaging, plates, cups, egg cartons, coolers, to-go containers, pool and beach toys, packaging peanuts, dock floats and buoys will be banned, the article states. Polystyrene foam meat and fish trash will be outlawed as of July 1, 2017.

The new legislation is an extension of Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s 2006 law prohibiting San Francisco restaurants from using polystyrene foam containers.

Peskin co-sponsored the new law with Board of Supervisors President London Breed, who introduced the legislation, the San Francisco Examiner reports.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the San Francisco Department of the Environment can make exceptions for categories of polystyrene foam use, noting that a spokesman for the department has said it will probably allow companies that ship medicines at prescribed temperatures to continue using polystyrene for at least a few years.