Polystyrene (commonly known as styrofoam) doesn’t biodegrade — it turns into tiny and tinier plankton-sized particles (photodegrades) and is eaten by filter-feeding fish, accumulating its way up the food chain.

It is a known carcinogen and a suspected neurotoxin. It can leach from styrofoam containers into food and drinks.

Recycling polystyrene containers is prohibitively expensive.

The useful life of polystyrene takeout containers is just hours or days, while their impact as waste can be measured in decades or centuries, according to a 2004 study conducted by the State of California. Photo by Joel Turner.

Any of these reasons justifies a ban on the use of the containers, says Ellie Rose, founder of Foam-Free Seattle, a coalition of citizens pushing for a citywide ban on the polystyrene containers.

“I think there’s a significant educational aspect where, when the ban is instituted, it gets people thinking about plastics and our throw-away disposable society.”

Americans currently generate 4.5 pounds of waste per day, the most per capita in the world, according to the EPA.

The North Central Pacific Gyre contains a mostly plastic-based trash island the size of Texas, where plastic particles outnumber plankton 6 to 1, found the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

“It [polystyrene] just doesn’t make any sense.” says Sarah Nason, a Foam-Free member. “So many cities on the West Coast have already been able to implement bans.”

Currently over 100 U.S. jurisdictions have enacted bans on polystyrene in one form or another, including Portland, San Francisco, and Berkeley. In Berkeley, the ban is further extended to grocers and other food handlers, not just takeout. Suffolk County, New York also bans plastic packaging and bags. Oakland exempts restaurants when the biodegradable alternative is not of the “same or less purchase cost.”

Whereas Jamba Juice in Seattle uses all polystyrene smoothie containers, in Portland the fast-food juicer has switched to paper-based cups.

One of Foam-Free’s goals is to mold a template with which cities around the world could enact their own bans of polystyrene, including affordable alternatives.

Bagasse, one example, is microwave and freezer safe, made from crop residue pulp that is typically burned; it degrades in six to seven weeks. Consumers typically shoulder the added cost, although Marin County subsidized half the cost to one catering company making the switch.

Polystyrene makes up 1 percent of America’s landfill composition by weight. Food, on the other hand, makes up 7 to 10 percent of Seattle’s landfill, according to Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin.

“Waste is a resource out of place,” said Conlin in a recent interview; he notes that compost demand is very high. Cedar Grove, the city’s composter, “could take a lot more.”

Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed to raise the citywide recycling rate to 60 percent by 2010, guided by a “zero-waste” philosophy.

The background for the ban has local precedent. According to Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle banned the use of all non-recyclable food and beverage containers by city government and food vendors at city facilities in 1988.

Take Action: www.foamfreeseattle.org