On Monday a New York State Supreme Court Justice denied New York City’s claim that recycling used polystyrene containers “was neither environmentally effective nor economically feasible.”
This all sounded very familiar. In Fairfax in Marin County in the 1990s I was involved in a drive to ban polystyrene containers in that town. We used the initiative process--signatures on a petition followed by a popular vote.
Fairfax was a hotbed of environmentalists. The Green Party was the second largest party in Fairfax, ahead of the Republicans. The City Council supported the ban, as did the Town Manager, whom I was sleeping with at the time. (Still am.)
We did an all out campaign–door-to-door, phone banks, major demonstration at a shopping center (I was Mr. Polystyrene Man, “who never goes away.”)
You can’t recycle polystyrene. It is contaminated with food and liquids, and even if it isn’t, you may be able to remold it into things like lunch trays, but you can’t close the loop and reuse it as polystyrene. It ends up in landfills or storm drains, and it does not biodegrade.
I have noticed that judges often don’t understand environmental issues. Evidently this judge took the industry at its word that recycling was possible.
I hope New York City appeals. This is bad stuff. By the way, the ban in Fairfax still stands.
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