PS 154 in Windsor Terrace is becoming the first school in New York City to jettison styrofoam trays and Council Member Bill de Blasio is holding a press event at the school today with students and parents. The trays are being replaced with ones made from sugar cane fiber. Per an email:

The new environmentally friendly trays are designed to easily break down either in a landfill or in backyard composting, within 45 days. In contrast, the trays made of styrofoam typically take 10,000 years to break down and may be seeping toxic chemicals into the children’s hot food which is served directly on the tray. The quantity of trays used throughout the City is astounding. The Department of Education (DOE) uses 850,000 trays a day which adds up to over 4 million trays a week. Brooklyn Properties and The Juice Box are the official sponsors of the pilot program. Councilmember de Blasio has also introduced legislation, Intro 609, which would prohibit the use of Styrofoam by City agencies and food establishments. McDonald’s stop using styrofoam packaging in 1990. The cities of Berkeley, California and Portland Oregon were some of the first to prohibit polystyrene food packaging. Although the trays are commonly known as Styrofoam trays, Styrofoam is a licensed trademark of its manufacturer, the Dow Chemical Company.

The event takes place this morning (3/25) at 11AM. There was a post along with a video about the issue and PS 154 at the City Room last July.