By Matt Bittle

DOVER — Legislation filed this week would ban Styrofoam containers and similar plastic items, including straws, used by food establishments up and down the state.

Senate Bill 134 would prohibit restaurants from serving ready-to-eat food in containers made of polystyrene, a non-biodegradable and potentially carcinogenic petroleum product best known under the brand name of Styrofoam. It would also instruct them not to provide single-use plastic straws unless a customer specifically asks and would ban single-use plastic coffee stirrers, cocktail picks and sandwich picks.

“We have a responsibility to future generations to reduce the amount of these products entering our environment,” Sen. Trey Paradee, a Dover Democrat and the main sponsor, said in a statement. “These products are harmful to wildlife and are potentially dangerous to human health.

“Over the past several decades, the low-cost of these products has made them very popular in our society, but, today, many low-cost alternatives exist that are less harmful. As a coastal state with a vibrant tourism industry that is critical to our economy and our quality of life, we must join other states that have already banned these products and set an example for the world to follow.”

Delaware passed legislation restricting the use of plastic bags by stores in 2019.

Polystyrene, a common source of litter, can remain in nature for a very long time, and when it breaks down, tiny pieces can be ingested by wildlife and eventually humans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers it safe, but the World Health Organization describes the substance as likely cancer-causing. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and National Toxicology Program reported a similar conclusion in 2011, and the Environmental Protection Agency has issued warnings about it, as well.

Between 2008 and 2019, more than 20,000 pieces of polystyrene litter were found along Delaware beaches during annual coastal cleanup events, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. A 2018 study of visible litter along Delaware highways located an average of 498 pieces of polystyrene litter per mile.

“We only have one planet, and our ecosystem is being choked by pollution such as these single-use products,” Rep. Gerald Brady, a Wilmington Democrat and the lead House sponsor, said in a statement. “Everyone who has ordered to-go meals, especially during the past year, knows how quickly these containers can pile up. Multiply that across thousands of households across the state and you realize how serious this issue is, and a lot of these packages wind up on the roadside or in our waterways. Moving away from non-biodegradable food containers is another critical step toward protecting our environment.”

Six states have banned polystyrene from use in food service and more have outlawed plastic straws.

The bill is in the Senate Environment & Energy Committee.