Microplastic Madness
An award-winning documentary that's inspiring a global youth movement
Thank You to all the students who took action to get this law enacted!
Thank you to the 200 students who came to City Hall for World Oceans Day, and to NYC Mayor de Blasio, and Council Member Brad Lander!
And thank you to NYC Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia for providing detailed evidence that recycling plastic foam is not “environmentally effective and economically feasible.”
Shout Out to:
NRDC NYC, NYLPI, Manhattan SWAB, NY/NJ Baykeepers, Citizens Campaign for the Environment,
Plastic Free Waters Partnership, and to all who have worked tirelessly to get toxic & polluting plastic foam out of our waters and lives!
Learn more about the industry-backed law suits:
Court Upholds NYC Ban on Polystyrene Containers NRDC Expert Blog, Eric A. Goldstein June 9, 2018
“VICTORY – NYC’s ban on polystyrene foam food and beverage containers has been upheld in court. As a result, dirty foam food cups and clamshells should disappear from restaurants and food service operations by early 2019.
(more ->)
for World Oceans Day 2018 w/ 200 NYC school students (details ->)
PS 188 The Island School students at the Youth Rally to ban foam at City Hall for World Oceans Day, May 30, 2018 (Photo: Erik McGregor)
Polystyrene litter collected at Jamaica Bay, New York, in one hour (April 2017); Beach litter is full of polystyrene foam. Polystyrene is consistently reported as one of the top 10 items of debris recovered from shorelines and beaches worldwide (Ocean Conservancy, 2016). NYC is no exception!
Polystyrene is consistently reported as one of the top 10 items of debris recovered from shorelines and beaches worldwide (Ocean Conservancy, 2016).
According to a 2015 study, the most abundant type of microplastics found in New York & New Jersey waterways were EPS foam particles, which made up about 38%, or close to 63 million plastic particles at any time in our local waters (NY/NJ Baykeeper).
Learn about Cafeteria Culture’s PLASTIC FREE WATERS K-12 Environmental STEM education ->
Let’s BAN FOAM across the US!
(Please adapt this letter to fit the needs of your community and campaign)
Hello, my name is ________ and my address is _________.
I am contacting Council Member_______ to urge her/him take action to ban toxic and polluting plastic styrene foam litter by signing onto _____.
Styrofoam litter poses a serious threat to the health of our oceans, marine wildlife and now our seafood! It is consistently reported as one of the top 10 items of debris recovered from beach clean-ups worldwide. (Ocean Conservancy, 2016). NYC is no exception!
The chemical styrene, a major component of polystyrene food containers, has been categorized as a “reasonably anticipated to be carcinogen” by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Styrene is toxic and polluting from the start to and forever thereafter. Nobody should be eating or drinking from containers made of styrene, not our kids, not our parents, and not our neighbors! The market is full of safe and affordable alternatives.
Due to the city’s outdated sewer systems, when it rains as little as 1 inch, street litter is entering our local waterways. Styrene foam is particularly brittle. As it breaks up into tiny microplastics, it enters our seafood chain, accumulating more toxins that adhere it it along the way. Recent studies show that 1 in 4 fish contain microplastics and that by 2050, there will be more plastics (by weight) than fish in the oceans (World Economic Forum).
Thank you for taking local action on this important environmental and health issue.
Plastic foam is a toxic threat to our communities, oceans, wildlife & seafood for generations to come. NYC & over 100 other communities have voted yes to #banfoam. Let’s get foam banned in our city!
LET’S GET POLYSTYRENE (commonly called “styrofoam”) food and beverage containers banned in NYC as 100 other US cities have done – including Baltimore!
That’s exactly what the polystyrene foam industry is hoping for… and they’re spending lots of corporate $$$’s to back their toxic plan..
NYC Sanitation Commissioner determines that polystyrene foam is not viably recyclable.
Hear what a PS 15 K 5th grade citizen scientist has to say about all the plastic foam pollution at Jamaica Bay (Queens, NY 2018):
Tired of the battle to ban toxic & polluting
polystyrene foam – a danger to the health of
our oceans, wildlife and bodies?
Support innovative K-12 environmental education!
“As experts in children’s environmental health, we know that what we do to the environment, we ultimately do to ourselves and to our children. Products like polystyrene create pollution where they are produced, where they are discarded, and inside our bodies. They dirty our air, contaminate our water, and get into the food chain. Because polystyrene threatens human health and cannot be practically recycled, we support a polystyrene ban.”
Dr. Perry Elizabeth Sheffield, MD, MPH Deputy Director, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Departments of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine
Plankton typically eat algae, but with 8 million metric tons of plastic being dumped into our oceans annually, plankton, the base of the sea food web are eating microplastics, laden with other toxins.
Plankton caught on camera for the first time, captured under a microscope at the UK-based Plymouth Marine Laboratory, shows copepods consuming—and accumulating—fluorescent polystyrene beads measuring 7 to 30 micrometers in diameter. (see video here)
Read the Determination on the Recyclability of Food-Service Foam NYC Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, May 2017.
U.N. Report: Little Known About Ocean Plastic’s Impact on Human Health
BY, Erica Cirino, Aug. 21, 2017, NEWS DEEPLY
“There’s an estimated 51 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean, most of it broken up into bits smaller than the nail on your pinkie finger. Marine animals eat this plastic when they mistake it for fish eggs, plankton and algae. And so do people when they slurp down oysters, consume crab or eat other types of fish and shellfish, according to the latest research on the presence of plastic in fisheries and aquaculture issued by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.”
Editorial by NYC Council Members Brad Lander and Antonio Reynoso, October 18, 2017, City and State NY
“We love recycling. But “designating” Styrofoam as “recyclable” by legislation does not actually mean it will be recycled – because recycling Styrofoam is simply not feasible. After a two-year exhaustive study, the New York City Department of Sanitation concluded that Styrofoam could not be recycled in an economically efficient and environmentally feasible manner. It will wind up in landfills, where it will remain, literally, forever. ” read more ->
POLYSTYRENE never biodegrades but breaks up into tiny toxic microplastics that harm wildlife and poison our food web.
Microplastics mimic plankton, an important food source for fish and seabirds. They also act like sponges, absorbing toxins commonly found in polluted waters, like PCBs, pesticides and flame retardants, carrying those additional toxins with them.
As a part of the recent “New Plastics Economy” report produced by the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, leaders of 15 global brands—including Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble—recommended that polystyrene products be phased out. (https://newplasticseconomy.org)
The polystyrene industry claims that a ban will hurt under resourced communities, yet under resourced New Yorkers are more likely to be eating hot foods in toxic styrene containers on a regular basis, and more likely to negatively impacted by the transport and incineration of our garbage.
Styrene, the main component of styrofoam, remains toxic from start to forever!
Learn about Styrofoam Out of Schools here->
Battle Over Polystyrene Waste Is Foaming in the NYC Council
May 09, 2017 Eric A. Goldstein, NRDC
The New York City Council is again confronting the controversial issue of how to get rid of polystyrene foam food and beverage containers―one of the most environmentally troublesome constituents in the municipal waste stream.
Expanded polystyrene foam―the lightweight, brittle, white material that is used in billions of single-use coffee cups and take-out food containers every year―is a first-class environmental nuisance.
Huge volumes of these cups and clamshells end up as New York City litter. They quickly break into small pieces on city streets and in playgrounds, parks and beaches, creating clean-up woes for home-owners and Sanitation and Parks employees. And they often find their way into local rivers and bays, where their crumbling nuggets can be mistaken for food by fish and birds.
(continue reading ->)
What was behind the law suit filed against NYC for banning styrofoam – filed by Restaurant Action Alliance and Dart? Big $$$$, corporate greed and jobs for former government officials!
The plastic foam industry’s wooing of a term-limited councilman led to a judge overturning
a city law. CRAINS, New York Business, Erik Engquist,
September 24, 2015
excerpts:
The minority caucus had been targeted in 2013 by the plastic-foam industry because they offered a sympathetic ear and there was a racial and ethnic angle to be played. Low-cost food establishments run by immigrants in minority districts often use plastic-foam cups and clamshell containers because they are cheaper and more insulating than more environmentally-friendly alternatives. The controversial material—known in the industry as expanded polystyrene, or EPS—may also be more readily accepted by their customers than by those in wealthier neighborhoods.
Industry representatives, led by Michigan-based Dart Container Corp., met for 30 minutes with the council’s minority caucus including Mr. Jackson, who was prevented by term limits from seeking re-election to the council that year but was running in the Democratic primary for Manhattan borough president. They argued that foam containers could be washed and recycled along with rigid plastic into pellets and used to make picture frames and other products. Moreover, Dart said it would supply the washing equipment and buy the used foam for the first few years of the program…
NYC appealed the NY State Supreme Court judge’s decision to overturned the foam ban legislation.
But, on Dec. 3rd, Judge Chan of the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, denied the city’s motion to appeal.
DART Container Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of styrene foam food ware, and the American Chemistry Council have millions to spend on lobbying in NYC to support their business interests. DART claims that styrene foam (aka, styrofoam) can be recycled in NYC yet, recycling styrofoam is not economically feasible and styrene remains toxic from start to finish! (learn more from Eric Goldstein’s NRDC blog here->)
Mayor de Blasio’s Administration BANS SINGLE-USE STYROFOAM PRODUCTS
IN NEW YORK CITY BEGINNING JULY 1, 2015 Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Determines Expanded Polystyrene Foam Not Recyclable DSNY determines that there are no markets for post-consumer polystyrene,
See the Mayor’s Office Press Release – (with CafCu’s quote)
(read more here)
Excerpt from the testimony to NY City Council, November, 2013, Debby Lee Cohen, Executive Director and Founder of Cafeteria Culture (originally called Styrofoam Out of Schools).
The chemical styrene, a major component of polystyrene food containers, has been categorized as a “reasonably anticipated to be carcinogen” by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Styrene is toxic and polluting from start to ongoing.
