If you order takeout in Delaware, your order may look a little bit different — and a lot more eco-friendly.
The state has banned all food establishments from packaging ready-to-consume food and drinks in containers containing plastic foam, often known as Styrofoam. The ban, Coastal Point reported, was passed in 2023 and took effect Tuesday, and it applies to restaurants, caterers, grocery stores, and vending machines.
Prepackaged foods from a factory are exempt from the law, but businesses have been encouraged not to sell any food that comes in plastic foam.
"Over time, this cheap material breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, which can be ingested by wildlife and passed into the food chain or water supply," Sen. Trey Paradee, the bill's sponsor, said. "That's why we must take action to reduce the amount of plastics that end up in our landfills, along our streets, and in our waterways."
Plastic foam is lightweight, cheap to produce, and has strong insulating properties, which have made it a popular choice for decades in food storage. But it also does tremendous damage to our planet, prompting Delaware's ban.
Single-use plastics, such as plastic foam, are responsible for nearly 500 million tons of carbon pollution each year, research has found. Although scientists are working on methods to recycle plastic foam, it ends up mostly as litter or in landfills.
Researchers estimate that up to 5 billion pounds of plastic foam enter our oceans and landfills each year. And because it isn't biodegradable, it instead breaks off into microplastics — tiny, sometimes imperceptible particles that are now seemingly everywhere in the world, including human brains.
Delaware joins a host of other states in banning plastic-foam food containers, including Washington, Oregon, California, and Virginia. Several others, such as Alaska and Georgia, are considering similar bans.
But no matter where you live, you can take steps to eliminate plastic foam — and other types of plastic — from your life. When dining out, for example, you can bring your own to-go container, made from more sustainable materials, that will keep takeout containers out of the trash.
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