Foam container ban moving forwards

[Rob Tucker]

Bottle cutting kits are on eBay...

[terracore]

Unfortunately, 70's-era 16 ounce glass reusable pop bottles, not so much.

[Durian Fiend]

quote:

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Originally posted by terracore


The only solution is to quit using disposable things altogether..

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Agreed, and as consumers of meals away from home this is a choice we can individually be making, before government is compelled to mandate it.

Simple enough: BYO container for takeout.

[Eric1600]

The styrofoam ban is going into effect in July 1, 2019 for Hawaii. The council voted 7-2 which prevents the mayor from vetoing the bill, but he says he supports it now. It wasn't clear to me that the 2 no votes who were against the ban due to cost in the beginning, now it sounds like it didn't go far enough...or are they just looking for reasons to object.

Hilo’s two council members, Aaron Chung and Sue Lee Loy, were the only two no votes. They’ve said the bill unfairly singles out one source of polystyrene, while allowing other polystyrene containers, such as egg cartons, coolers and the like, to remain on the market.

Items shipped into the state are covered by interstate commerce laws and thus are not easy to regulate. Food packaged outside the county, and packaging for raw meat, fish, and eggs that have not been further processed are exempt from the ban.

Fines range from $10 to $600 per violation, depending on whether the violation is part of a special event and the size of the special event. A written warning will first be issued. Each sale or transfer of food in a polystyrene container counts as a single violation.

The bill as written also exempts coolers, county facility users and food vendors with county approval and providers of supplies during county emergencies declared by the mayor.

In situations where compliance with the ordinance would result in undue hardship, the Environmental Management director may exempt a food vendor or county facility user from the requirements for a period not to exceed 180 days, under the bill.

http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/news/loca...tyrene-ban

[kalakoa]

Food packaged outside the county

Does that include the "private subdivisions" and "Federal enclaves" that are excluded from the "official" traffic fatalities?

More practical question: since we don't have (and apparently cannot build) a composting facility for the new compostable food containers, aren't they ending up in the same landfill that currently accepts styrofoam?

[Eric1600]

The idea is that new containers when dumped carelessly, they will degrade, rather than persist in small pieces that end up in waterways and the ocean. People who compost can also put them in their compost bins rather than take them to the transfer station. In addition once in the landfill they will degrade much faster than polystyrene.

There are cities like Seattle that have full pickup recycling programs where they also except compost. The actual "garbage" can they now give residents is probably 1/4 the size of their other cans because so much can now be processed rather than buried. You might even recall people being fined for putting food waste in their trash instead of the compost bin. Just look at the size of their actual garbage can: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk...rash-bins/


But you're right, living on island in the middle of the Pacific, we should be much more efficient about waste than we are, which means facilities to process and pickup.

[kalakoa]

facilities to process and pickup

Yet no effort is made to provide these.

[terracore]

"But you're right, living on island in the middle of the Pacific, we should be much more efficient about waste than we are, which means facilities to process and pickup."

And then ship them back to the mainland, which could have an end-result of more carbon being released into mother Earth. There are few actual "recycling" programs that actually begin and terminate here.

[Eric1600]

There are companies trying to address this here in Hawaii like https://www.sustainableislandproducts.com/

[kalakoa]

companies trying to address this here in Hawaii

Better than nothing, but not locally manufactured like the Oahu styrofoam plant.

No prices in their catalog, either.

Of course, it's "just a few pennies more" at the point of sale ...

Related point: what about those fine establishments that use foam containers for everything, even if you eat in? How expensive do the "disposable" containers need to get before it's cost-effective to install a dishwasher? What if they can't get enough "meter credits" to run that dishwasher? Is a DWS well failure "emergency" enough to grant a waiver and permit use of styrofoam?