Maine Is The First State To Ban The Use Of Styrofoam

Image credit – Takeaway/Wikipedia Commons

The use of plastic containers, bottles, bags, and styrofoam boxes have long been a staple in the F&B business, especially in takeaways. However, they are hardly the most environmentally-friendly solutions, which is why we’ve been seeing how some companies have stopped offering their customers plastic straws.

Now over in the state of Maine, it has now been signed into law that the use of styrofoam has been banned. This law will not be kicking in immediately and will only go into effect on the 1st of January, 2021, which hopefully will give businesses enough time to find new solutions and alternatives to the use of styrofoam.

This will affect F&B businesses such as restaurants, caterers, coffee shops, and grocery stores. According to governor Janet Mills, “Polystyrene cannot be recycled like a lot of other products, so while that cup of coffee may be finished, the Styrofoam cup it was in is not. In fact, it will be around for decades to come and eventually it will break down into particles, polluting our environment, hurting our wildlife, and even detrimentally impacting our economy.”

We have been seeing quite a lot of effort in trying to cut down on waste that isn’t recyclable. For example, it was recently that organizers of the London Marathon turned to the use of edible seaweed pouches to replace water bottles that are typically handed out to runners during a race, cutting down on a potential 200,000 plastic bottles that might have otherwise been used.

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