TELL US: Should Foam Beverage, Food Containers be Banned?
Residents in Brookline supported a move to ban the use of all foam food and beverage containers, a move that was approved at Special Town Meeting.
One group of residents in the Bay State has taken a stand against the use of plastic foam food and beverage containers at local restaurants.
A Special Town Meeting in Brookline this fall voted to ban the use of polystyrene (plastic foam) food and beverage containers for take-out or to-go at food establishments in town. The ban will go into effect on Dec. 1, 2013.
The move came after Town Meeting member Nancy Heller proposed the article due to the health risks involved in the use of the cups. As a result, the move was approved by a vote of 169-27.
But not everyone was in favor of the move. Canton-based Dunkin Donuts spoke against the measure on Tuesday; spokesperson Christine Riley said that, despite looking, the company has not found a better alternative to the foam cups to keep coffee warm.
Meanwhile, some petitions have cropped up, such as on Change.org, calling on Dunkin Donuts to cease use of the cups, citing hazards to the environment. Last year, the company said it was looking at alternatives to the material and also weighing the possibility of an in-store recycling program, according to a WHDH report.
But what do you think? Should Brookline's move be followed by other communities in the Commonwealth? Or should establishments be allowed to use the material for food and beverage containers?
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Anna Bucciarelli
7:48 am on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
I have to think hard about this one. Listen, I understand the need to limit foam, but I am tired to the death of being told by governments, local, state or federal, how to go about living a life. The choices in all matters of this nature should be drawn by individuals and it's all well and good to approach companies, but they also have choices. I personally do not frequent any coffee shop, especially DD (weakest coffee for the high price), use my own computer mug, filled with home brew, but fully understand that people on the go will stop for a quick one on their way to their destination and hope they will also learn to use computer mugs. First Concord, banning small water bottles being sold, now Brookline ... where does this dictatorship end ??? Do we not already have a good recycling program going on? And what next, the foam trays from supermarkets ... what about them? How about the foam that packages my online purchases ... what am I to do about that? On and on it goes ... banning foam cups is ridiculous since it is a tiny part of the entire problem. However, sensible discretion on the part of consumers and "establishments" may help, I don't know ... but I will never agree with dull and uninspired decisions made to ban a thing as innocuous as cups or water bottles. It smacks of recalcitrant behaviour on the part of Gov't. vs Individual rights to arbitrarily assume such responsibility to DICTATE. 'Nuff said (for now).
Eileen Cushing-Craig
10:37 am on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
I don't think that water bottles and foam cups are really innocuous to the environment. They are a huge pollution problem, but I don't think Brookline has addressed the problem in an effective way. I believe that such a ban has a chilling effect on business because it penalizes them for just trying to provide a better (hotter) cup of coffee. I would prefer to see the state (or maybe EPA?) working with coffee shops and other hot drink retailers to create incentive programs that reward the customer for using their own travel mugs. (Maybe a free fill-up after using the mug 5 times, or something like that.) The store benefits from not having to purchase so many styrofoam cups, and the environment ultimately benefits by having fewer cups end up in landfills.
As for the foam trays in the supermarket, I wonder why we even need that. When you go to the butcher, they wrap the meat in waxed paper. No tray. I wouldn't miss it if supermarkets just wrapped the meat and put it in the refrigerator case that way.
I agree with your statement Anna, about government regulating in places where they really shouldn't
Tyler Jozefowicz
9:06 pm on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
All for it; ban any and types of styroform cups, containers, trays. I understand that it is not biodegradable and takes tens of thousands of years to disintegrate. This anti-government stuff is nonsense. It's an environmental hazard, a health concern. . When the planet is polluted 100 years from now, you think our decendants are going to worry about "government intrusion", or just the mess that they have to clean up?
Anna Bucciarelli
9:58 am on Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tyler ...I never said I was anti-government, just that they have no need to stick their nose in where it does not belong. I know full well that styro is not biodegradable and if the Gov't,. wants to get involved, let it start with incentives as expressed by Eileen, not arbitrarily regulate without consent of the general population. Further, it would be a good (great) idea to openly discuss the matter prior to issuing a decree. As for plastic water bottles banned in Concord, what's to stop me or anyone from a surrounding town from bringing in my own? Plastic is biodegradable but why not incentivize companies to return to glass rather than restrict its citizenry? I reject the notion that I should be told without prior discussion what to do. Gov't. intrusion is not nonsense, it exists and to ignore it is to delude yourself.
Eileen ... I'm with you re: the plastic trays in supermarkets ... they really go overboard, even in produce. Not to mention the plastic bags you get everywhere unless you carry your own market bags, which I have done to EVERY store I frequent
since long before they were the "right" thing to do, simply because they are stronger and easier for my old hands to manage.
No easy answers to any of this, I know, but let the Gov't. go after the offenders not the consumers, if they must get involved, do it the right way.
S
10:30 pm on Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Ban Styrofoam ? Shut down Styrofoam factories in the future ? Eliminating more jobs ? Make more family's suffer ? Save the environment ? GREAT PLAN
S
10:47 pm on Wednesday, November 28, 2012
In regards to Concord and spring water purchase, did you ever think passing a bottle bill on spring water would motivate people to recycle ? You should have banned soda more health hazards
Anna Bucciarelli
6:43 am on Thursday, November 29, 2012
It's not the water that is banned, it's the small, personal plastic bottles. Also, I understand that in NYC a person sitting to dinner in a restaurant is restrained from ordering more than one soda ... limit is one per person (what I hear, cannot confirm). Just exactly where does this nonsense end? Motivation to recycle is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned ... as it stands now, there is no reward for recycling water bottles and I ask why not when soda bottles are considered recyclable?
S
11:07 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
I agree. I used to give a family friend my water bottles to recycle in Maine and let them keep the money.