SHREWSBURY – A measure to prohibit food establishments from dispensing prepared foods in Styrofoam containers is among 16 articles that are on the Oct. 22 special town meeting warrant.
The citizen-petition article is sponsored by four Shrewsbury High School students who sponsored a similar article that was narrowly defeated at the annual town meeting in May.
The previous article sought to prohibit local food establishments and town facilities – including the schools – from dispensing prepared foods in disposable food service containers made from expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam).
Styrofoam is not biodegradable, and most of it ends up in landfills. Much of the remainder ends up in waterways, where birds and fish mistake small particles of it for food. The lightweight material is also a primary source of litter. In addition, Styrene, a chemical used to make Styrofoam, emits dangerous chemicals that leach into food when it is heated in Styrofoam containers.
After a lengthy late-night debate, the May town meeting defeated the article in a vote of 87-84. However, town meeting members applauded and complimented the four students — Rahul Razdan, Anirudh Iyer, Anish Warty and Siddhant Dosi — for their endeavor and thorough presentation. The students were asked to bring the article back to town meeting after some issues are worked out with the local Board of Health.
Sunita Razdan, the mother of one of the proponents, in an email this week, said the group worked with the Board of Health over the summer to come up with the revised article.
“We are fortunate to live in a town that endorses and encourages green and healthy community. Last time we lost with a very narrow margin and this time we have revised it and have received endorsement from BOH,” Ms. Razdan said. “We’re looking forward to a positive result in town meeting.”
The new article only applies to food establishments. Schools and other town facilities are not mentioned.
Ramesh Razdan, father of one of the students, said the schools wanted to be under the overall guidance of the town.
“If we can get (a) town-level ban, then schools will automatically inherit it,” he said.
To date, 29 municipalities – none in Worcester County - have approved polystyrene regulations, according to MassGreen.org.
At a public hearing two weeks before the May annual town meeting, Patrick Collins, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, and Beth Nichols, director of food services, gave a presentation outlining the school district’s plan if the ban passed, and the potential increase in meal costs. Mr. Collins said the school use 425,000 Styrofoam meal trays a year. The annual cost of Styrofoam food service items in May was $20,419, which is $24,410 less than the estimated cost of using non-Styrofoam trays and containers. Any increase would be passed along to students in the form of a 10- to 20-cent increase in the cost of meals, he said.
Ms. Nichols, in her annual food services report to the School Committee Wednesday night, said her department has implemented some changes in response to the students’ efforts.
Plastic “to-go” containers, as well as plastic cutlery that contains polystyrene, have been replaced with items that do not contain polystyrene. Also, plastic straws are no longer used in the cafeteria.
In addition, the school are assessing whether they could install dishwashers, which would lead to the elimination of Styrofoam food trays. The preliminary finding, she said in the report, was that only Floral Elementary School has the footprint to accommodate a dishwasher.
This fall Ms. Nichols plans to visit a school outside the district to observe its composting programs in the kitchens and cafeterias.
As of August, Framingham, Dedham and Uxbridge are the only school districts in the state that had used state Sustainable Materials Recovery Program municipal grants to help them switch to disposable or reusable trays and other food service items.
If Article 8 passes at the Oct. 22 special town meeting, it would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2020. There are more than 200 food establishments in town.
If the ban passes, a warning notice would be issued for a first violation. If an additional violation occurs within one year after a warning notice, a penalty would be imposed. The penalties would be $50 for the second offense and $100 for the third and all subsequent offenses.
The special town meeting was called to get local authorization for the funding of a $92.8 million new 141,600-square-foot Beal School to be built on the former Glavin Center property on Lake Street. The town’s share — after 34 percent reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority — is about $59.3 million. If town meeting approves the funding, the measure would also have to be approved at a Nov. 6 ballot vote.
The Board of Selectmen approved the town meeting warrant this week and will discuss the articles in more detail at its next meeting, Oct. 9. The Finance Co
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