Come 1 January 2016, foamed polystyrene food and drink containers used for carryout purposes will no longer be allowed in Washington D.C. / USA. Mayor Vincent C. Gray signed the relevant bill on 29 July. While the law applies to carryout containers used by restaurants, storefronts and food trucks, it includes an exemption for supermarkets that do on-site butchering and use foam trays for their meat. Violators will face a fine.

A number of US cities have imposed similar bans, including Seattle and San Francisco. In December last year, the New York City council passed a similar decree, which is due to go into effect in 2015 – for details, see Plasteurope.com of 13.01.2014. The D.C. ban is part of a wider set of environmental reforms, some of which are aimed at reducing the pollution of the Anacostia River. It follows the introduction of a five-cent fee on plastic bags, introduced in the district in 2010.

While saying that it supports making D.C. more sustainable, the American Chemistry Council (ACC, Washington DC; www.americanchemistry.com) was critical of the ban, saying that, “By failing to examine recycling opportunities for polystyrene foam as many communities have, the District is requiring the use of food service ware that may actually be worse for the environment” since it requires extra energy to produce alternatives. ACC pointed out that there currently do not exist opportunities to recycle polystyrene in the city.