The proposed mayoral ban — swift, decisive, stirring in the moment — does not always take.
New Yorkers can still get cozy with an outsize soda, the carbonated nemesis that former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg failed to fell.
Horse carriages, which Mayor Bill de Blasio once pledged to expel on “Day 1” of his administration, continue to rumble through Central Park.
But now, it seems, City Hall’s two most recent occupants have successfully combined to vanquish a common foe: plastic foam.
Nearly two years after Mr. Bloomberg first proposed banishing the material in his final State of the City address, de Blasio administration officials are expected to announce on Thursday that they have completed the deed.
Beginning on July 1, food establishments will be barred from using plastic foam cups or containers, compelling purveyors of curbside cart fare and Chinese takeout, among others, to find alternatives. The sale of packing peanuts within the city limits will also be prohibited, though peanut-laden parcels can still be shipped to New Yorkers from elsewhere.
“This has been a movement that’s gone on for a very long time,” Kathryn Garcia, the city’s sanitation commissioner, said of the shift away from foam. “Clearly, there are alternatives out there that are much more environmentally friendly.”
Environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council have long lamented the polymer’s persistence, arguing that foam containers, stained by food and grease, were needlessly clogging landfills. But efforts to rid the city of the material had met fierce opposition from Dart Container Corporation, one of the largest makers of plastic foam products, and the American Chemistry Council, a trade group that aggressively lobbied city officials and council members.
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