Whether it is large sodas or strict gun regulation, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is never slow about getting ahead of legislation that he thinks is best for his city. He is now looking to ban plastic-foam food packaging, something environmentalists have been calling on for years.
But is now the right time to make things any more difficult for businesses?
According to The New York Times, the ban will include takeout boxes, cups and trays and that will force restaurants to restock. Public schools also would have to remove plastic-foam trays from their cafeterias. The move could reportedly save a waste stream of about 20,000 tons of plastic foam at $20 per ton in recycling costs.
But some small business owners are dreading what they call an “unfair burden” on small businesses, the New York Times reports. It is also likely to impact larger manufacturers too, such as Dow Chemicals. New York City is not the first city to consider such a ban. Others such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, have done it, but is now the right time to make it more difficult for businesses to recover from an already sluggish economy.
Do you think the government, local and otherwise, would better serve the people by slowing down on some of the regulations until the economy is a little more robust?
In an article on NJ.com (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/ban_on_plastic_foam_causes_con.html) a street vendor estimated that his costs would increase from less than $.09 per container using plastic foam to less than $.12 per container using aluminum. About a 3 cent increase. If businesses use this new policy to increase prices by a nickel they'll enjoy windfall profits.
I don't know that any time is the right time to make things more difficult for businesses but the basic premise of this opinion piece is flawed. Banning the use of plastic foam containers may make things more inconvenient for businesses, but more difficult? Perhaps the author of this tripe is trying to make a point about being fed up with "the government" telling the little guy how to live his/her life or run his/her business and they see this as the latest example of further encroachment on liberty. But to paint it as a hindrance to businesses trying to recover from a sluggish economy is a flawed premise at best.
We have millions of eating joints but only one Mother Earth.
With 2/3s of America overweight and half of them obese, it's time we start understanding our gluttony.
1) 20,000 tons of Stryo-foam would equal about 50,000 tons of paper/cardboard. 2) Last time I checked, paper was made from trees. How many trees does it take to make 50,000 tons of paper? It really would be cool to get rid of Styrofoam but at what cost to paper? I think the real reason Bloomberg doesn't want Styrofoam is because he can't dump it in the Atlantic with everything else because it floats.
Overloading plates is a marketing ploy. Restaurants want you to come back, so they give the illusion you are getting a lot for your money and are less focused on the actual price. Some places are fine with the sharing, and it is usually more than enough for two to share. Some restaurants penalize this practice by adding a surcharge for sharing. More fair establishments offer half-size entres but they don't give that much of a price differential. It is not cheap-skate to share. It is healthier, more economical and may encourage more dining out if it is not frowned upon. Thanks. There's a great seafood restaurant on Tybee Island that serves such a large portion on one entree that, not only is it plenty for two - there's enough left for two to share for lunch the next day. Prices are reasonable, too. I don't know how they make a profit, but they keep a wait with reservations on weekends.
the decent way to approach this. That's a good point. Sharing one entree probably also makes the service go faster, seating more folks in a shorter time, making up for less from each table of diners.
"1) 20,000 tons of Stryo-foam would equal about 50,000 tons of paper/cardboard. 2) Last time I checked, paper was made from trees. How many trees does it take to make 50,000 tons of paper? " Bingo! I forgot to add to my previous post that (DOW)Dart Container recycles polystyrene. It would be far better to recycle than use other materials that still go to landfill! Its not as profitable as other recycling commodities but when you consider the cost in terms of savings in the tonnage in landfills and raping the forests for yet more material... its worth it. Here is a link to more info: http://www.dart.biz/web/environ.nsf/pages/drop-off.html