Bloomberg adds plastic-foam packaging to hit list

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Mario Tama/Getty Images)New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has banned smoking at restaurants, bars and parks, put limits on the sales of sugary sodas and required fast-food eateries to post the fat and calorie totals of the meals they serve.

And now, as he enters his final months in office, Bloomberg is looking to institute another sweeping citywide ban, this time on plastic-foam packaging used for coffee cups and food containers.

Bloomberg will make the proposal in his final State of the City address on Thursday.

"Something that we know is environmentally destructive and that may be hazardous to our health, that is costing taxpayers money and that we can easily do without, and is something that should go the way of lead paint," Bloomberg will say, according to excerpts provided by his office. "We can live without it, we may live longer without it, and the doggie bag will survive just fine."

Bloomberg?s push comes after several other major cities?including San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore.?have passed similar bans on plastic-foam packaging?which is more expensive to recycle and is considered harmful to the environment.

Rumors that Bloomberg would push for a plastic-foam ban have been rampant for weeks at City Hall. The ban would require approval from the City Council if it is to be implemented.

The proposal is likely to face considerable push-back from the city?s restaurant and convenience store industries?which are already angsty about a citywide ban on sales of cups of soda larger than 16 ounces set to go into effect Mar. 1. (Diet soda is exempted.)

The foam packaging ban is part of a larger recycling initiative that Bloomberg will outline. According to his office, Bloomberg will also propose putting one thousand new recycling bins on city streets and open a new recycling center in Brooklyn. He will also announce a pilot program that would allow New York City residents to recycle food waste by composting?again following the lead of other major cities, including San Francisco.

The mayor's office said the composting plan will initially launch on Staten Island and, if successful, will expand to the entire city.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/bloomberg-push-ban-plastic-foam-packaging-052641304--politics.html

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