by Rich Peterson

The Sounder editorial of June 17 asserts that banning styrofoam is a “no-brainer.” Perhaps if Councilman Gene Knapp and I hadn’t bothered to think about it, we might have voted to send the ordinance forward. There is a nice feeling that comes with supporting a “feel good” ordinance like the proposed ban.

However, upon reflection and consideration, I find many problems and questions with this initiative. Among the problems are the following:

• We are already struggling with enforcing our existing ordinances. The San Juan Initiative study found that many county regulations are simply not enforced – presumably either through lack of resources or lack of will.

• We are routinely unable to complete our annual goals and work plan because of issues like this one that consume considerable time and energy, often without sufficient attention to the ramifications, and that were not part of the original plan.

• The county is in a serious budget crisis. How can the imposition of more obligations on staff already very challenged with expectations that they should “do more with less” be a good idea?

The questions I have include these:

Why control only food containers? I suspect that an equal or larger source of styrofoam entering the county comes in the form of building materials, packaging, and insulation. Why limit the ban to Styrofoam? If we’re going to introduce yet another ban on one material, why not all plastics that are long-lasting and damaging to the environment? How would we know if a material is styrofoam? Would we have to get materials analyzed?

And, finally, the most significant question of all in my opinion:

Why does the government need to be involved at all? In recent months, behavioral changes arising from environmental concerns have been extremely successful in, for example, using green recyclable shopping bags rather than paper and plastic. We have also seen many businesses shifting away from styrofoam on their own initiative. Governmental coercion was not required.

I believe that environmentally conscious groups have tremendous capacity to shape citizen behavior through public relations campaigns. Why don’t they support a boycott of businesses that continue using styrofoam? Restaurant owners and operators who have voluntarily made the change-over are getting the positive feedback they deserve. Individuals and groups who shun products they believe to be harmful are responding to the persuasion of the marketplace. Business owners forced into more and more regulations are responding to the coercion of government. I think most residents far prefer the former.

I would back an effort to promote voluntary discontinuation of styrofoam use, and I offered to support the passage of a council resolution to that end. The sponsors, however, were determined to have the council adopt an ordinance, an effort that I will continue to oppose.

Rich Peterson of San Juan Island is chairman of the County County Council.