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Friday, June 03, 2011

Saying No to Foam, and No to Gaines

California may ban takeout food in foam containers - Yahoo! Finance: "Getting takeout food in foam containers would be a thing of the past in California under a first-in-the-nation bill approved by the state Senate on Thursday.

The bill by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, prohibits vendors including restaurants and grocery stores from providing prepared food in expanded polystyrene containers.

Currently, 50 California local jurisdictions, along with Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Ore., restrict using the containers, but Lowenthal says his bill would make California the first to enact a statewide ban.

As written now, his SB568 would ban using the containers after Jan. 1, 2014. But Lowenthal plans to amend his bill in the Assembly to apply to restaurants and vendors after Jan. 1, 2016. It would apply to schools after July 1, 2017.

Lowenthal said the material commonly known as Styrofoam often winds up as litter and eventually breaks into pieces so small that some marine animals mistake it for food.

'The focus is in the wrong area. I don't know why we're not going after the people who are littering,' objected Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville."

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