NEW YORK — Could plastic foam containers get 86'd from the menu of takeout food options in the nation's biggest city?
A sanitation official said Wednesday the idea is under discussion but it's too soon to say what will get recommended in an upcoming report on increasing recycling rates.
Polystyrene foam, sometimes sold under the brand name Styrofoam, has long been popular among restaurateurs for lightweight, heat-retaining containers, but environmentalists complain it takes years to break down in trash. Some communities around the country have barred eateries from using to-go containers made of it.
As New York City officials prepare a report on how to double the city's residential recycling rate, the foam is "one of the things that you have to look at," Department of Sanitation Deputy Commissioner Ron Gonen said by phone Wednesday.
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