Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Participate in Environmental Public Hearing Aug 5th at City Hall at 7 PM

Please come and participate in a discussion on a proposal to ban the use of disposable Styrofoam food ware for prepared or packaged food and also restrictions on the use of single-use plastic shopping bags. The public hearing will be held on August 5th, at 7 p.m., at CityHall, 1707 St. John’s Avenue.

Regulation of Styrofoam is important for our environment, and has been proven to work in other cities. Styrofoam, a petroleum product, is designed for a useful life of minutes, but continues to exist in our environment for hundreds or thousands of years. In addition, there reportedly are potential health impacts from Styrofoam. Recyclable and biodegradable food service ware is an affordable, safe, and ecologically sound alternative to Styrofoam and other non-recyclable single-use food ware.

Single-use plastic shopping bags are made from natural gas or petroleum and do not biodegrade. According to the Worldwatch Institute, less than 1% of the 100 billion free single-use plastic bags thrown away in the United States each year are recycled. Learn about ways to minimize the use of plastic bags and how to promote an environmental approach.

Please come to the public hearing to express your views on whether Highland Park should adopt these environmental proposals.