Brookline restaurants and coffee shops might have to find a different kind of food and beverage packaging if a proposed ban on Styrofoam containers passes in a Special Town Meeting in November.
Nancy Heller, a Brookline Town Meeting member, proposed the ban after she was given coffee in a paper cup in a Dunkin Donuts in Great Barrington, news outlets reported.
Heller found out that Great Barrington, along with some other cities across the country, have already banned Styrofoam.
“Anecdotally, I have observed that food from the cafeteria at the Museum of Science is no longer placed in polystyrene containers, but in containers which are biodegradable,” wrote Heller in an explanation of the article she submitted for consideration in the upcoming Nov. 13 meeting. “The MacDonald chain ceased to use polystyrene packaging several years ago, and now wraps all food in paper products.”
Styrofoam, also known as polystyrene, is commonly used to package and hold food and beverages.
“While this warrant article only applies to food and beverage containers in Brookline, it begins to tackle the problem at a local level and furthers the process of educating people about the dangers of polystyrene,” Heller wrote.
Styrofoam is trademarked by the Dow Chemical Company and has faced backlash from environmentalists for its virtual inability to decompose.
The U.S. Department of Health added Styrene, a synthetic chemical found in Styrofoam, to its list of known or reasonably anticipated carcinogens in 2011.
Some Boston University students said the proposed ban would benefit the environment.
“I can’t really say I remember the last time I even had anything contained in Styrofoam,” said College of Arts and Sciences senior Liz Brannon. “Aside from non-food related packaging materials, there are better alternatives, such as the paper cups.”
Quinn Rodriquez, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said that as long as a ban does not affect the price of goods, she would support it.
“I think it would be a good idea,” Rodriquez said. “I don’t know how it might affect prices of coffee, and that would really be my only concern. It’s a good idea since Styrofoam takes forever to decompose in landfills.”
Rodriquez said that Los Angeles, where she is from, banned plastic bags in an effort to help the environment, and that she supported that program as well.
“I don’t really feel like activists are taken all too seriously,” she said. “So, if the government doesn’t step in and force businesses to stop doing what’s cheapest and start doing something to protect the environment, I don’t think it would change.”
CAS junior Julie Rosen said large-scale bans of Styrofoam could raise prices.
“I think I would support it, especially if there are safer alternatives to Styrofoam,” she said. “I guess the only drawback I could see would that if they did use alternatives to Styrofoam, then it might increase the cost of stuff in the long run.”
Rosen said that although Styrofoam is cheaper to produce, the environmental benefits trump a slight bump in the cost of goods.
“I think if it has a positive effect on the environment and gets people to be more aware of the things they are consuming than yeah, I would support it,” she said.
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