Food Packaging in the News: Cost Of Foam Bans, Large Soda Bans And More

San Rafael city council passes bill to increase costs, stifle growth and apply undue pressure on 250 local businesses. Inaccuracies are;

• “…inability to recycle polystyrene…”. Polystyrene can and is being recycled. It’s not being done on a very large scale though.
• “…harmful effects on health…”. Foamed polystyrene is FDA compliant for food contact and has been safely used as such for over 40 years.
• “…keep the bay cleaner from garbage left behind…”. How is trading one type of garbage for another a step forward? Litter is litter, no matter what the form. Attack the litter issue by increasing collection sites, institute lids for public garbage cans and stiffen and enforce litter laws.
• “…easy to switch packaging…”. Sure it’s easy enough to find food packaging that is compostable. Heck we sell a bunch of it in from our Harvest Fiber line of products. I just think food operators would rather switch under their own timetable and customer preferences rather been told to by their local government.

Boston City Council puts undue pressure on local business with crazy ban. Your cup of coffee will go from $2.00 to $3.00 overnight should this shortsighted ban go into effect. I swear our elected officials are ban happy. I have to wonder if these bureaucrats ever do any homework at all? Citizens of Boston, as your councilman how much extra raw materials (water, electricity etc.) it takes to make an “environmental” cup versus a foam cup. All those extra materials translates into more consumption and higher costs.

A stagnant economy could spell good news for quick service restaurants while fine dining and fast casual suffer.

Consumers want to be green, but are unwilling to pay the premium in many instances.

The Big Apple is apparently too big according to Mayor Bloomberg. To save its citizens from themselves the government of NYC has decided that it must ban beverages over 32 ounces in size. Once again a ban that will negatively affect so many industries (beverage, food service, cup manufacturers etc. etc.) will be put into affect and will have little to no affect on the issue they are trying to address which is obesity. Just like all those municipalities who ban certain types of food packaging thinking it will solve their litter problem only to find they have traded one type of litter for another, all while putting undue economic pressure on small businesses, this one is likely to have no effect on the overall issue at hand. God forbid our elected officials try to do something positive to solve a problem. Why not offer tax incentives for gym memberships or some other type of positive initiative? The part of this ban that baffles me is what is excluded from this ban. Drinks over 32 ounces that contain alcohol are okay. Hmmm, “I’m sorry sir but I can’t sell you that 32 ounce Coke, but hey throw four jiggers of some hard liquor in there and we are good to go!” Yeah makes perfect sense to me.