San Diego’s New Styrofoam Recycling Program Comes with a Big Cost

The city of San Diego plans to lose at least $90,000 a year recycling plastic-foam food containers.

One of the big winners of the new plan are the makers of the plastic-foam, often called Styrofoam. They include Dart Container Corporation, a plastics maker that’s spent over $200,000 in recent years donating to local political campaigns and lobbying the San Diego City Council.

San Diego, like other cities across the state, wants to do everything it can to avoid sending stuff to landfills. There are a few ways to do this: Residents can use less, reuse more stuff or ban specific items from being used in the first.