Possible South Lake Tahoe ban on Styrofoam

The list of New York City; Takoma Park, Maryland; Seattle, Washington; Washington DC; Miami Beach, Florida; Freeport and Portland, Maine; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California could soon have South Lake Tahoe added as the 113th California city or county to ban polystyrene. Berkeley has had a ban in place since 1988, the first California city to do so.

South Lake Tahoe City Council will vote after hearing a presentation about a ban of polystyrene (better known as Styrofoam) in the City limits during their meeting on Tuesday, February 5, 2018.

Polystyrene is a type of plastic manufactured from non-renewable fossil fuels and synthetic chemicals. It normally comes in two forms: Expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), which is the stuff that’s made into cups, plates, take-out food containers, egg cartons and packing materials; and solid polystyrene, which gets turned into plastic forks, CD and DVD cases, even smoke detector housings.

To gauge the public's opinion of a possible ban on polystyrene, the City conducted a survey where 438 people responded. Those responding overwhelmingly support a ban. Several restaurants, Lake Tahoe Community College and Lake Tahoe Unified School District already have eliminated Styrofoam from their operations.

City staff also researched the costs involved for those that will have to comply to a new ordinance. Their findings were supported by many in the restaurant industry and found to be one to three cents different per item.

There will be four tiers of a ban discussed Tuesday.

City staff recommends the City Council adopt a Polystyrene Ordinance which prohibits the use and distribution of Polystyrene and Expanded Polystyrenes (EPS) of food and drink containers used for take-out foods from restaurants as described in Tier 1 Option: Ban Single-use Polystyrene used for Take-Out foods. Restaurants would be impacted the most (cups, bowls, plates, clamshell containers, straws).
Additionally, the adoption of a Polystyrene Ordinance will assist in satisfying the new California Statewide requirements for Storm Water Management.

Tier 2 Option: Ban of retail sales of foam coolers, single-use food containers at all retail stores (Safeway, Raley's, Kmart, Smart & Final, etc.). Staff does not recommend this option but asks the Council to allow the implementation of a Tier 1 Option Polystyrene Ordinance and possibly consider revising the ordinance in the future to include this tier.

Tier 3 Option: Ban of products using Polystyrene on items packaged outside of the City. (example: egg containers, trays used to sell meats at grocery stores). Staff does not recommend this option either, based on an extreme economic impact using replacement materials.

Tier 4 Option: Ban the Use of Polystyrene products at Special Events. The City's
Sustainability Commission encourages event producers/applicants to strive for a Zero-Waste event (also known as a ZeeWee Event) by requiring vendors to use recycled content products, compostable cups, utensils and materials, providing effective and sufficient recycling contains, maintaining efficient refuse collection during and after the event and encouraging event participants to take care of their surroundings. City sponsored events already utilize the South Tahoe Refuse Special Event Recycling Quick Kit Program.

The City Council meeting will be at the Lake Tahoe Airport starting at 9:00 a.m.