Giving Compass' Take:

· According to Katherine Martinko at TreeHugger, the city of Vancouver will implement a ban on foam food containers in the coming year, with future goals to reduce plastic straw and grocery bag use. 

· What led to this ban on foam food containers? How will this help the environment? What can donors do to support these environmental movements? 

· Here's how crackdowns on plastic use have helped with pollution problems. 

The city of Vancouver has announced a ban on all disposable cups and takeout food containers made of foam. The ban, which will take effect on January 1, 2020, applies to all restaurants, grocery stores, food courts, and special events, and affects prepared foods that are consumed on the premises and packaged as takeout or leftovers. This is exactly one year after New York City's controversial foam ban went into effect.

The ban could affect a broad range of foods, including "soups, stews, curries, sushi, fried food, sauces, salads, deli foods, or sliced veggies meant to be eaten without further cooking."

This foam ban is just one of the actions Vancouver is taking to reduce single-use item waste in support of its zero-waste goal for 2040. Other actions include banning plastic and compostable plastic straws by next April, offering only bendable ones to meet accessibility requirements and allowing a year's grace period for bubble tea sellers to find alternatives; handing out single-use cutlery only upon request; and banning all plastic grocery bags by January 2021, including compostable ones.

This is the first city apart from San Francisco that I've heard of cracking down on compostable plastics, and it makes me very happy. Numerous studies have shown that compostable and biodegradable plastics are not a viable solution to the plastics pollution problem, that they fail to break down in the environment and still pose a real threat to wildlife. And yet, many locales – such as the island of Capri with its recent single-use plastic ban – still allow them. Vancouver is wise to ban them at the same time as conventional plastics, which will encourage the kinds of broader behavioral changes that need to occur.

Read the full article about foam food containers by Katherine Martinko at TreeHugger.