This week Maryland will become the first state in the US to ban the use of foam containers for carryout. The law, which was approved during the 2019 state legislative session, will go into effect on October 1 and includes items such as cups, plates, carryout containers and trays. The law affects food service as well as other businesses and institutions that use these products, such as schools.

The original deadline to stop using the products was July 1, but on June 11, it was pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Several areas in Maryland have already introduced foam bans, including Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

“Single-use plastics are overrunning our oceans and bays and neighborhoods,” Democratic Delegate Brooke Lierman, the main sponsor of the House bill, told CNN when it passed in 2019. “We need to take dramatic steps to start stemming our use and reliance on them … to leave future generations a planet full of wildlife and green space.”

To read the full story, visit https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/27/us/maryland-foam-container-ban-trnd/index.html.
Author: Lauren M. Johnson, CNN
Image: CNN

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