With Huntington Beach's plastic bag ban going into effect Nov. 1, Mayor Connie Boardman continued on with the board's green agenda at this week's City Council meeting, agendizing a directive to develop an ordinance banning polystyrene.
The move to ban polystyrene – better known, inaccurately, as Styrofoam – followed a recent presentation by students from Pegasus School, who noted, “It's one of the biggest contributors to marine pollution in Huntington Beach.”
But, while the statement may be true, and while we share the sentiment to keep local beaches clean, the move to ban polystyrene for environmental benefit seems misguided. The common assumption, that biodegradable alternatives will simply return to the earth naturally, is inaccurate and does little to confront a real problem with littering.
Instead, disposing of alternatives like those made of polylactic acid, a biodegradable plastic derived from cornstarch, is more complicated. And, while having trash break down in a few months – versus perhaps hundreds of years for traditional products – is undeniably preferable, it requires optimal conditions.
According to an article from the Cornell University's Center for Materials Research, “[W]hen poly(lactic acid) plastics are disposed in the trash and sent to the city landfill, the plastic won't degrade any faster than any other plastic, which is estimated to be at least hundreds of years.”
That's because they need a proper combination of heat, sunlight and oxygen for decomposition, which they won't get under a landfill, or, likely, under sand.
The article similarly notes that reproducing optimal conditions in your backyard compost pile is unlikely, requiring the polylactic trash be disposed of in industrial compost facilities. Whether the city has access to such a facility wasn't readily known, and a call to the city's trash provider was not immediately returned. Styrofoam can go in the blue bin, along with all plastics numbered 1-7, according to their website.
The paper option isn't much better, because to protect consumers from heat and seepage, paper products, like cups, often have a thin layer of plastic. Without it, consumers would have to use several cups to get similar results.
But that would get expensive for businesses. A quick visit to The WEBstaurant Store, an online warehouse for restaurateurs, found a case of green, biodegradable and compostable takeout containers of similar type and size of their foam rivals selling for more than $25 higher.
While keeping beaches clean is a noble pursuit, a better solution for Huntington Beach would be to step up litter enforcement and partner with businesses to voluntarily move toward green solutions rather than place more regulations on businesses still resentful over the plastic bag ban enacted this spring.