Long Beach Environmental Services Bureau Manager Diko Melkonian updated the Long Beach Sustainable City Commission on the proposed polystyrene ban at the group’s March 23 meeting.

 

The purpose of the update was to put forth a framework to gain insight on the extent of the ban before city staff begins drafting an ordinance. The framework is meant to inform stakeholders on the possible wording of the ordinance in order for them to be able to make more specific comments.

“We felt that it was important to at least provide a framework so they have something to comment on, as opposed to something too nebulous,” Melkonian said. “[We’ll] get some of that input before we actually draft an ordinance so everyone gets a chance to make some comments on it.”

 

Melkonian noted that more than 100 cities have varying degrees of polystyrene bans. The least extensive programs ban only expanded polystyrene products (Styrofoam), while stricter bans include polystyrene products such as non-recyclable and non-compostable plastic containers, including the common red Solo cups.

 

“The intent is for the city to work with businesses, not at businesses,” Melkonian said. “Use the carrot, not the stick, as they say. If the council should pass this ordinance, we want to help businesses be successful because it’s in the interest of everybody for that to happen.”

 

Alternative products include reusable containers, which Melkonian said would be ideal but impractical for many restaurants (particularly those with a focus on takeout), compostable containers or those that are easily recyclable.

 

Robb Korinke, principal at Grassroots Lab, cited a polystyrene ban in Pasadena that saw drastic price increases for local businesses. Restaurants that focused on takeout saw the most drastic increase – jumping from anywhere between $7,000 and $17,000 per year for containers.

 

“We definitely oppose this ban,” Becky Warren of the California Restaurant Association said. “Bans harm the smallest restaurants in your city. So we would really hope that you consider working with the industry, the grocers, restaurants, to figure out a solution that’s win-win so that we can actually reduce waste, reduce litter and also allow for the restaurants to continue to not have another mandated cost put on them.”

 

Besides the standard questions of cost and economic impacts to the city and businesses, multiple commissioners said they think the issue cannot be completely resolved at the city level.

 

“It should be, in my opinion, a countywide issue, so we are dealing with it once and for all if we are going to deal with it,” Commissioner Frank Colonna said. “I think, if we’re going to take an approach to it . . . it would be good to take a look at the feasibility of a broad approach so that we really take care of the problem and not just make Long Beach look like we’re doing one more piece of legislation that’s going to burn business and create hardship.”

 

Commissioners said there are two reasons for looking at this as a statewide issue. The Styrofoam that litters Long Beach beaches does not all come from the city but is carried here from other cities via the Los Angeles River. And there is a fear that businesses will opt to open in other cities to avoid complying with the ban.

 

Commission Chairman Randal Hernandez noted that he does not expect litter to be reduced by the ban, rather the makeup of trash would change from Styrofoam to other items.

 

During public comment, Cory Allen, chief of staff for 1st District Councilmember Lena Gonzalez, said the councilmember’s staff respectfully disagrees with the economic issues brought up by commissioners and business owners. He noted the fact that polystyrene does not begin to decompose for 500 years and that the price difference for environmentally friendly products is only one or two cents more.

 

The original request for city staff to draft the ban, taking public comment into consideration, came from the city council at its December 20 meeting. The motion included a request for city staff to develop a timeline for implementation, a list of vendors who utilize polystyrene, a website containing information about the ban and a hotline to answer questions and concerns. The Long Beach Economic Development Commission is also creating incentives for businesses that adhere to the ban prior to the implementation date.

 

The commission voted unanimously to lay over the discussion until its April 28 meeting.

Melkonian said he expects a drafted ordinance to be presented to the city council sometime in June, at which point a public education campaign will be introduced to help businesses adhere to the ban.

Brandon Richardson is a reporter and photojournalist for the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal.