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 Expanded Polystyrene, or EPS, is the name of the material commonly referred to as "Styrofoam."  It is composed of 5% polystyrene and 95% air, making a lightweight/high volume  material used most frequently in transport and food service packaging, such as coffee cups and takeaway food containers.  

As the California Integrated Waste Management Board's (CIWMB's) 2004 White Paper on Polystyrene notes, "Commercial and institutional PS products (including food service PS) represent 42% of PS production. Unfortunately, food service PS presents unique challenges in its management due in part to contamination from food residue. Because of these challenges and economic factors, no meaningful recycling of food service PS occurs currently."   (emphasis added)

Besides being unrecyclable, polystyrene -like other plastics - does enormous damage to the marine environment when accidentally lost, or carelessly handled.  Unfortunately, its lightweight properties help it to escape into the environment easier.  A California Department of Transportation study conducted from 1998-2000 found that PS comprised 15% of the total volume of litter collected from storm drains.   EPS litter reaches the sea by rivers and municipal drainage systems, and then tends to break apart, where it can be eaten by animals.

The ingestion of plastic debris by marine wildlife reduces food intake, causing internal injury and possibly death. Each year, more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die from ingestion or entanglement in plastic debris.   In fact, by 1998, the Marine Mammal Commission reported that marine debris had affected at least 267 animal species around the world.

This debris also accumulates on the sea floor, potentially interfering with the Marine ecosystem, causing lower levels of oxygen that are unable to support fish and other marine mammals (U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program).

As the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) notes,

"Cities and Counties in California are encouraged to adopt recycled-content procurement programs as part of their efforts to achieve the state-mandated waste reduction level of 50%. Such purchasing programs may also include provisions to encourage waste prevention and reuse, and preferences for the use of products with a wide variety of environmental benefits…"

City Support On The Rise

In 2005, the Malibu City Council adopted an ordinance banning EPS food service products throughout the city. The Oakland City Council voted in June 2006 to adopt a polystyrene packaging ban for food vendors. In November 2006, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted on legislation to ban polystyrene by restaurants starting in July 2007. The city of Santa Monica in December 2006 passed a broad ordinance to ban Styrofoam and any non-recyclable plastic with the recycling symbol "#6." The Calabasas City Council has also expressed interest in creating polystyrene bans. 

What Is CAW doing  to reduce EPS?

CAW sponsored AB 1866 in 2006, by Assembly Member Betty Karnette, which would have prohibited the use of expanded polystyrene food packaging at state facilities. This supports California's ethic of using environmentally sound products, allowing state facilities to fulfill their roles as model operating systems. The bill unfortunately stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.