Styrofoam is no longer illegal in New York City. It took effect July 1 after lawmakers voted to approve it in 2013 when the city determined the foam could not be recycled.
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On Tuesday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chan said there is clear evidence showing that this isn’t true.
The ban was put in place because the containers can break into small pieces and linger in landfills.
The effort to ban the containers was led by former Mayor Micheal Bloomberg and current Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“These products cause real environmental harm, and we need to be able to prevent [them] from entering our landfills, streets, and waterways”, said Ishanee Parikh, the spokeswoman.
A rep for City Hall, meanwhile, says that they will fight this most recent development, telling NY1, “We are reviewing our options to keep the ban in effect”.
Last December Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia ruled it was not. MSNBC notes that the average New Yorker contributes about six pounds-worth of polystyrene foam to the city’s trash every year. “However, in reaching the conclusion that there is no sustainable market for post-consumer EPS in both her environmentally efficient and economic feasibility analysis, the commissioner did not clearly state the basis of her conclusions when the evidence contrary to her findings were clearly before her”, the decision states. The law called on the department to examine whether there was an economically feasible way to recycle the containers and if not, it allowed the city to enact the ban.
The present mayor’s spokesperson, meanwhile, said the local administration did not agree with the court’s decision and may go up and challenge it.
“There’s not a single major city in the nation that has successfully implemented a recycling program for used polystyrene food containers, and the reason is simple: It doesn’t make economic sense”, Goldstein told the Times. The victory here is for the environment and for recycling.
Chan found the city could save $400,000 recycling 40 percent of its wasted plastic foam.
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Mr. Mastro said the industry had offered to pay for equipment to help the city recycle the material. “We are eager to work with the city to get recycling started as soon as possible”.
