Ban on harmful plastic food containers and utensils could go statewide

February 20, 2009

OLYMPIA—The City of Seattle's ban on environmentally hazardous food containers could soon go statewide, if a bill approved today by a key House panel is signed into law.

The Ecology & Parks Committee voted 9 to 5 to ban food businesses from using polystyrene carryout containers after January 1 and require the use of recyclable or compostable containers and utensils after July 1, 2010.

"There is no reason for food containers to use the carbon-based plastics that are fouling our beaches and slaughtering ocean wildlife when environmentally friendly alternatives are readily available," said Rep. Maralyn Chase (D-Shoreline), the prime sponsor of House Bill 2089.

Chase noted that carbon-based plastic never disappears, but instead degrades into small particles that lodge in plankton and fish gills and from there impacts the entire ocean food chain.

"High concentrations of these plastics are swirling around what is called the Northwest Pacific Gyre in an area that is already about twice the size of Texas," said Chase. "If we don't start practicing an intergenerational golden rule, our children and grandchildren will inherit oceans of trash where carbon-based plastics have steadily replaced wildlife."

According to the California Ocean Protection Council, ocean litter-much of which is comprised of carbon-based food containers-is harming at least 267 species worldwide. The adverse impacts to sea turtles, seabirds, fish and marine mammals include starvation, suffocation and infection.

Chase conceded that alternatives to the familiar take-out clamshells and other carbon-based fast-food plastics currently cost a few pennies more.

"It may cost a penny or two more to make a container that can be recycled or composted, but the long-term costs of trashing our oceans and ocean-based industries is much, much higher," Chase said.

Chase said she hopes her legislation will help make Washington a world leader in "green jobs" related to environmentally-friendly containers.

"People who imagine we have to choose between jobs and the environment couldn't be more wrong," Chase said. "Manufacturers of compostable and recyclable containers are proving every day that good jobs and a healthy environment go hand in hand."

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