Supervisors vote to ban Styrofoam use at LA County facilities

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted today to ban the use of polystyrene food containers by county agencies and concessionaires.

The board also asked its staff to study over the next year the possibility of banning polystyrene products in unincorporated areas of the county.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the county's decision to keep Styrofoam and similar products out of its facilities and requiring the use of recyclable products could prompt other communities to take the same step.

"When we sneeze, the rest of the county catches a cold,'' Yaroslavsky said.

In a report to the board, county Public Works officials noted that polystyrene cups, plates and containers take generations to deteriorate, clogging landfills and often ending up as litter in the ocean. According to the county, departments such as Beaches & Harbors and Parks & Recreation have
already begun phasing out the product.

The ban exempts the Sheriff's Department, which is the county's largest user of polystyrene. According to the county, forcing the department to use alternative, recyclable products would triple the cost.

But in an effort to phase out the product, the Sheriff's Department was taking part in a pilot
project to explore the effectiveness of cleaning the polystyrene used for jail food and grinding it up to be used in products such as picture frames.

"The county should lead the way in transitioning away from Styrofoam products to products with fewer adverse environmental and economic impacts,'' Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said.

"As we move forward, we must also ensure that there is local capacity to divert single-use containers from the waste stream through composting or recycling infrastructure."