The Anne Arundel County Council has voted to ban polystyrene plastic foam containers, giving restaurants until January 2020 to use their supply before switching to an alternative.

More than two dozen speakers — from preschoolers to senior citizens to restaurant owners — lobbied the council to vote in favor of the ban. A few business owners and plastic industry officials asked the council to vote against the ban because they said it would punish businesses.

The measure passed 4-3 at last Monday’s council meeting.

“We are the example for our kids,” said Kenneth Papa, Pasadena resident. “My son is thinking about cleaning up our problems. Why do we continue to make it worse?”

The bill was sponsored by County Councilman Chris Trumbauer of Annapolis, Andrew Pruski of Gambrills, both Democrats, and John Grasso, a Glen Burnie Republican. Those three and Councilman Pete Smith, a Severn Democrat, voted in favor.

Derek Fink of Pasadena, Michael Peroutka of Millersville and Jerry Walker of Crofton, all Republicans, voted against the measure.

“We went through a [similar process] with the smoking thing,” Grasso said. “They said, ‘Oh the bars are going to go out of business.’ But guess what, the bars are still there. This is no different than that.”

County Executive Steve Schuh’s administration has opposed the ban, calling it a tax on businesses.

Baltimore has enacted a ban on the foam containers. Similar legislation has been proposed to the Annapolis City Council.

Polystyrene plastic foam is commonly used by restaurants for take out orders and drinks. Environmentalists have linked the material to harming wildlife and contributing to water pollution.

Some restaurants have selectively stopped using the product. Others continue to use it because it is cheap and not federally banned.

Plastic industry officials defended the use of the product and said the ban doesn’t solve the problem of litter since the foam will be replaced by paper products. They also said supporters oversold the foam’s negative effects.

Anne Arundel County public schools opposed the bill at a previous meeting. Officials said it would drastically increase the cost of school lunch programs.

Alex Szachnowicz, the school system’s chief operating officer, had told officials that the school served more than 5 million meals last year, and that other container prices could double or almost triple the 3 cents per container paid right now.

The National Toxicology Program released a 2011 report that found styrene was “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” Styrene can leach into food through polystyrene containers but researchers found those numbers to be “very low,” according to the report. A low level of styrene is also found naturally in some foods such as fruits, vegetables and nuts.

Opponents also pointed to a recycling center in Crofton that accepts the materials as a potential solution rather than outright banning the substance. The recycling center at 1298 Cronson Blvd. accepts containers that are cleaned of food particles before recycling.

“It does require a little bit of effort,” said Walter Reiter, deputy director of EPS Industry Alliance. The alliance runs the recycling center. “Last year we took 3,500 pounds. The stuff is so light that a ton and a half is a huge number.”

Smith had proposed amendments to the original bill — which were accepted. Smith had concerns about the bill and put forth two amendments. The Severn Democrat’s proposed amendments changed the start date from September 2019 to January 2020 and downgraded the severity of the civil offense.

ccook@capgaznews.com