Jan 31- Cupertino, Ojai and Los Altos Pass Polystyrene Bans

The start of the new year always brings changes, and three cities in California started the change. Ojai, Los Altos, and Cupertino all took big steps towards banning Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) from their cities. EPS, sometimes called Styrofoam, is a material considered to be dangerous to the environment and many cities, including the aforementioned ones, have taken steps to remove it from our litter stream.

Los Altos and Ojai passed the first round of readings on January 14, 2014 and the ordinances were officially adopted on January 28, 2014. Cupertino passed the first reading on January 21, 2014 and will hold a final vote as early as next month. Cupertino and Los Altos both follow San Jose’s model for the ban with a few differences. Cupertino’s ban will affect all restaurants immediately while San Jose’s affects only chain restaurants in the first year and then affects all other restaurants and food vendors. The ordinances for Los Altos and Ojai include a ban on ice chests and cooler made from EPS.

If passed Cupertino’s ban will take effect July 1, 2014. Ojai’s ban will also take effect July 1, 2014, while the ban in Los Altos will take effect July 4, 2014.

For more about polystyrene, visit:

http://www.cawrecycles.org/issues/plastic_campaign/polystyrene/problem

http://www.cawrecycles.org/issues/plastic_campaign/polystyrene