We Need to Ban Styrofoam

While on the subject of harmful chemicals and substances in our environment, we’d like to take the opportunity to commend the efforts of Revere City Councilor Joanne McKenna for ensuring that the city’s ordinance banning the use of single-use styrofoam containers will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

The Revere City Council originally passed the ban in 2021, but held off on enforcing it because it was thought it would place a burden on local businesses, which were dealing at that time with the effects of the pandemic.

However, last week Councilor McKenna (who also led the effort to bar the use of plastic bags in Revere) made a motion to make the styrofoam ban become effective next summer, giving Revere businesses plenty of time to ensure compliance.

For those of us who are beachcombers and who bring along a bag to pick up trash that washes up on our shores, among the most common items we find are random pieces of styrofoam that have broken apart from styrofoam cups and other containers. However, styrofoam is not biodegradable — so while it may break apart into small chunks, it doesn’t break down — and marine animals often ingest it.

Although about 20 percent of the communities in Massachusetts ban the use of single-use styrofoam containers, it is unfathomable to us that our state legislature has failed to do so in order to make the ban effective everywhere in our state.

Bills have been filed year-after-year, but they never get very far — and we call upon our state legislators to make this legislative session the one that gets this important measure enacted.

As Councilor McKenna noted, “If we can help this environment just a speck, we are doing our job.”