SAN DIEGO—Styrofoam products are on their way out in San Diego following Nov. 15’s City Council approval of an ordinance banning all single-use polystyrene foam food containers, utensils, coolers, and pool toys effective next year.
According to a staff presentation at Tuesday’s meeting, while Styrofoam products are accepted in the city’s blue recycling bins, it is difficult to find a market willing to recycle them, and they often are sent to the landfill—if they don’t break up into tiny pieces and get into the region’s environment first.
“I am afraid to live in a world where the oceans are dying,” 17-year-old University of California–San Diego student Hela Khalil said at the meeting. “That’s why I am urging those of you in power to take action now, so that I, along with other youth, don’t have to live in a world ravaged by climate change.”…