Well, not quite yet. Though talks about banning the use of Styrofoam in the city’s restaurants will begin next month (via the OC Register).

Laguna Beach is poised to become the first county city to extend such a ban to the private sector. Under a plan to be discussed next month, city restaurants would have to ditch takeout cups and containers made of Styrofoam. While cheap and effective, the plastic can take decades to biodegrade and can harm wildlife that mistake its crumbled pieces for food.

I say GOOD FOR THEM and I hope the plan to ban is successful. Then I hope all other OC cities follow suit.

The article mentions how “restaurant industry officials” aren’t so hot about the idea, namely because alternatives can cost three times as much as Styrofoam, and that the ban won’t solve the “true issue” of littering.

I know littering is a problem. Trust me, I’m very aware of it. I try not to snarl when I’m out and I see little rugrats mindlessly dropping crap on the ground while their parents do absolutely nothing about it. (What happened to the days of old, when parents would teach their kids about manners??) Anywhoo, I quite agree that even if you take away Styrofoam, people would still continue to litter, and in the long run, there’s got to be something done to (re)educate the masses. In the meantime, just because people will continue to litter doesn’t make it OK to keep using something that takes forever to biodegrade, harms wildlife, and is quite possibly very, very nasty for humans. Just this week I witnessed a kid at work throwing food in a Styrofoam container in the microwave. When another employee mentioned “you know that’s toxic,” the kid simply shrugged it off and replied, “it’s OK, my stomach’s made of steel.” (I’d like to know how much of our tax money ends up in health care to take care of people who make moronic decisions such as these.)

Filed by Maria in environment, news