styrofoam containers will not be permitted in new york city starting this summer. on thursday, mayor bill de blasio announced that all plasticfoam packaging and containers will be banned in new york city starting july 1.michael bloomberg, de blasio&39s predecessor, first suggested banning the material in his final state of the city address in 2013. so, de blasio will be carrying out the initiative taken by bloomberg. new york will now be the largest city in the country, next to san francisco, seattle and portland, oregon, to ban the foam containers.environmental groups have long condemned the use of foam containers as it leads to clogging of the nation&39s landfills. de blasio said in a statement that these products lead to real environmental harm and have no place in new york city."we have better options, better alternatives, and if more cities across the country follow our lead and institute similar bans, those alternatives will soon become more plentiful and will cost less", he added.according to administration officials, the ban will remove about 30,000 tons of expanded polystyrene from the city&39s waterways, streets and landfills and it will also continue de blasio&39s effort to create a greener new york city. last year, de blasio announced a striving plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 by 2050 from its 2005 levels.from july 1, food establishments will not be permitted to use plastic foam cups or containers. sanitation commissioner kathryn garcia said that much of the waste generated can be recycled or reused, but polystyrene foam is not one of those materials. she also said that eradicating polystyrene from waste stream is good for a greener, more sustainable new york.according to administration officials, the ban will have a grace period until january 2016 as no fine will be imposed till then. 
