New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and State Leaders Launch Campaign to End Government Use of Styrofoam...

Campaign Kicks off with Rally at Public School Featuring Parents, Students, and Piles of Styrofoam Trays and Cups Collected from Schools and Government Buildings

On Earth Day, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, State Senator Liz Krueger, and Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh launched a statewide campaign to end government use of Styrofoam. The campaign kicked off with an early morning rally at a Manhattan public school featuring parents, students, and piles of Styrofoam trays and cups collected from schools and government buildings.

As part of this campaign, de Blasio, Krueger, and Kavanagh are recruiting elected representatives to sign the Stop Polystyrene And Revitalize the Environment (SPARE) Pledge, which calls on leaders in State and City Government to eliminate use of Styrofoam food service products in office operations and at their events. The SPARE Pledge will build momentum for a state and city legislation to eliminate government use of Styrofoam

“New York City and State government should be leading by example and ending their age old dependence on Styrofoam,” said Public advocate Bill de Blasio. “Everyday, our City’s schools alone discard 850,000 Styrofoam trays, doing tremendous damage to our environment. Hopefully by recruiting elected leaders to join our coalition and pushing legislation on the State and City levels we can make New York completely Styrofoam free.”

“I am proud to be a part of this coalition of City and State Leaders that have banded together to end the use of Styrofoam in our offices and at all of our events," said Senator Krueger. "There is no reason that anyone should continue using a product that is so toxic to our environment when there are more environmentally sound alternatives available. Today, in honor of Earth Day, I pledge to help build our coalition of local and state leaders who will lead the way in ending the use of Styrofoam.”

"New Yorkers have a right to expect that their government officials will make sensible, environmentally responsible choices when buying products with taxpayer funds," said Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh. “Unfortunately, the cups, plates, trays, and other food service items made of Styrofoam that we routinely see in the cafeterias of public hospitals, schools, and universities just don't meet this standard. A child might spend 5 minutes drinking from a Styrofoam cup before tossing it aside, but unfortunately that same cup might remain with us on this Earth 500 years from now. Today on Earth Day and in the coming year, let's finally agree to put an end to our misplaced reliance on Styrofoam."

The SPARE campaign is providing support for City legislation that Public Advocate de Blasio will be introducing which would prohibit city agencies and reasonable sectors of the food industry from using Styrofoam and also for state legislation, S2832-A/A428 (Krueger/Kavanagh), which will replace Styrofoam with recyclable and compostable products throughout government Statewide. The state legislation A428-A passed the Assembly on April 20th as part of the Earth Day package, and is currently progressing in the Senate.

Beach in Jamaica Bay Littered with Debris, Slain Animals by Brendan Brosh - NY Daily News

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An isolated beach on Jamaica Bay has become an eyesore, littered with religious icons and the gruesome remnants of animal sacrifices, area residents complain.

And last week, Queens News found a decapitated goat and evidence of an apparent chicken sacrifice on the beach, at the foot of the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge that connects Broad Channel and Howard Beach.

Fishermen said they have seen headless cats on the shore there.

Locals complain that the National Park Service, which has jurisdiction over the site, does little to patrol or clean the area.

"We're trying to clean up Jamaica Bay here, and we're finding all these religious objects that are detrimental to the marshes," said Dan Mundy Sr., a Broad Channel resident and head of the Jamaica Bay Eco Watchers. "We have been receiving numerous complaints about debris and litter."

Religious groups, sometimes more than 100 strong, congregate at the beach on weekends, according to locals.

They said the area is left littered with coconuts, flags, broken glass, flower wreaths, religious statues, plastic items and bottles - a mix of what appear to be Hindu and Santeria religious items.

The Park Service said it is trying to balance the competing needs of the religious communities and keeping the park clean.

"We've been working with the communities, trying to have them better understand and educate them about the impact of leaving articles from their religious ceremonies," said Patti Reilly, acting superintendent for the Jamaica Bay unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

Reilly said maintenance crews clean the site, but trash sometimes accumulates - including dead animals.

"From time to time, we have seen animal carcasses and have removed them quickly," she said. "None of that is permitted."

Local fisherman said the garbage is just one of many problems upsetting the fragile ecosystem of Jamaica Bay.

"There are all sorts of religious byproducts floating around the bay," said Mike McGovern, 70, a retired construction worker who has lived in Broad Channel for most of his life.

"I've seen Styrofoam plates with illuminated candles, dozens of them, floating on the water," he said. "People just can't leave garbage there."

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens, Brooklyn), who led a cleanup of the site Friday, said regular maintenance is the key.

"I don't think Gateway has done enough to clean up the foot of the bridge," said Weiner.

"We want all New Yorkers to enjoy our beaches, but we cannot have circumstances where there is animal cruelty," he said.

New York Times Blog Video: 4 Million Styrofoam Trays a Week by Sewell Chan...

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Or 850,000 a day. That’s how many pass through the lunch rooms of New York City public schools when classes are in session.

Parents Against Styrofoam in Schools, a grass-roots association arising out of Public School 154 in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, wants the Bloomberg administration to re-examine the extensive use of the trays. Styrofoam, or polystyrene, is a petroleum-based material that can take centuries to decompose. About 20 American municipalities have banned or restricted use of the packaging, including Suffolk County on Long Island. The anti-tray forces took their case to City Hall on Tuesday in a protest captured in this video:

The stunt was organized by Councilman Bill de Blasio, a Brooklyn Democrat. Eric A. Goldstein, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council said, “The D.O.E. is wasting taxpayer dollars and generating unnecessary pollution and waste every day it serves food on costly, throwaway polystyrene trays.”

Among the other places that have laws or restrictions on polystyrene food packaging are San Berkeley and Oakland in California and Portland, Ore. A similar ban is under consideration in San Francisco.

Dawn Walker, a City Hall spokeswoman, said of New York’s intentions: “At present the Department of Education is looking into the matter. We are committed to looking at alternatives.”

The landfills will get a little relief this week: The school year ended today, a half-day.

Related articles:

Brooklyn Daily Eagle De Blasio Asks Dept. Of Education To Stop Using Styrofoam Trays

CITY HALL — Council Member Bill de Blasio, D-Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, joined public school parents and students recently to ask the city’s Department of Education (DOE) to stop using styrofoam trays in the public schools.

Green Brooklyn: Stop Using Styrofoam Trays In Our Public Schools!

Lawmaker Floats Ban on Styrofoam - July 10, 2007 - The New York Sun by Elizabeth Solomont :

A state senator, Liz Krueger, has introduced a bill that would ban Styrofoam products in the food service industry.

The bill, which would apply to restaurants, fast-food chains, supermarkets, and other vendors, would require businesses to phase out Styrofoam products within one year.

City schools throw away 150 million Styrofoam meal trays a year.

'Picture Styrofoam, and you picture a product produced from petroleum that takes up to 500 years to fully disintegrate,' the senator said in a statement.

Star-Gazette.COM: NYC lawmaker wants to ban Styrofoam - ...

ALBANY - A Manhattan lawmaker Tuesday introduced legislation that would ban most Styrofoam products in the state within a year, citing environmental concerns.

Styrofoam is a brand name for products that are made with polystyrene, a liquid compound manufactured from petroleum. It can't be recycled and takes centuries to decompose.

According to bill sponsor Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, Americans throw away about 1,400 tons of Styrofoam every day.

"Picture Styrofoam, and you picture a product produced from petroleum that takes up to 500 years to fully disintegrate," Krueger said. "We have a real problem with needlessly creating too much waste. If we have the ability to create affordable alternatives we should make that leap."

The bill would give supermarkets, restaurants and other food-service providers a year to find environmentally friendly alternatives to the Styrofoam products they use. The state Department of Environmental Conservation would be charged with coming up with a list of such products, which could include various biodegradable plastics. Under the bill, the cost of the alternatives recommended by the DEC would have to be within 15 percent of the cost of their Styrofoam counterparts.

But one industry official said Styrofoam serves a valuable purpose, especially in supermarket meat departments.

"We find that with raw food products, by using Styrofoam there is no leakage, and therefore no health hazard of cross-contamination (like salmonella in chicken) that might be present with other types of products," said Jim Rogers, head of the state Food Industry Alliance. He said he hadn't seen the bill and wouldn't comment on it directly.

While the packaging may keep steaks juicy, many environmentalists warn that styrene, a chemical abundant in Styrofoam that has been linked to cancer, can leach into food stored or reheated in a Styrofoam container.

One environmentalist said he thinks the bill has little chance of passing, but it does open up an important discussion.

"Styrofoam is garbage, from the cradle to the grave, and that's an inappropriate use of petroleum," said William Cooke of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "We're at the point now where we have to critically look at our petroleum use, and you need the assistance of the manufacturer, the retailer and the consumer together. Styrofoam is the poster child for all this."

Styrofoam bans have already been enacted in Oakland, San Francisco, Portland, and about 100 other towns and cities across the country, but none are statewide, according to Krueger.

"Many municipalities have enacted various versions of this law, and some of the nations largest food-service providers have already moved in this direction as well, based not on new laws, but their own free will and conscience," she said.

There is no companion bill in the Assembly, meaning its chances of being enacted into law are slim.