AFC Enterprises

Popeye's still currently uses Styrofoam packaging for their take out containers. There are some environmental concerns here.

Expanded polystyrene is not easily recyclable because of its light weight and low scrap value. It is generally not accepted in curbside programs. Expanded polystyrene foam takes a very long time to decompose in the environment and has been documented to cause starvation in birds and other marine wildlife. According to the California Coastal Commission, it is a principal component of marine debris. A CIWMB (California Integrated Waste Management Board) Report finds that “in the categories of energy consumption, greenhouse gas effect, and total environmental effect, EPS’s environmental impacts were second highest, behind aluminum.” Restricting the use of foamed polystyrene takeout food packaging is a priority of many solid waste environmentalist organizations, like Californians Against Waste.

The city of Berkeley, California was one of the first cities in the world to ban polystyrene food packaging (called Styrofoam in the media announcements). It was also banned in Portland, OR, and Suffolk County, NY in 1990. Now, over 20 US cities have banned polystyrene food packaging, including Oakland, CA on Jan 1st 2007. San Francisco introduced a ban on the packaging on June 1st 2007.

    "This is a long time coming," Peskin said Monday. "Polystyrene foam products rely on nonrenewable sources for production, are nearly indestructible and leave a legacy of pollution on our urban and natural environments. If McDonald's could see the light and phase out polystyrene foam more than a decade ago, it's about time San Francisco got with the program." Board of Supervisors President, Aaron Peskin.

The overall benefits of the ban in Portland have been questioned, as have the general environmental concepts of the use of paper versus polystyrene.

A campaign to achieve the first ban of polystyrene foam from the food & beverage industry in Canada has been launched in Toronto as of January 2007, by local non-profit organization NaturoPack.

Other cities that have banned expanded polystyrene include Portland, Oakland, and Santa Monica. Both the California and New York legislatures are currently considering bills which would effectively ban expanded polystyrene in all takeout food packaging state-wide. (wikipedia-polysterene)