It has not been a short journey- it started years ago with a ban on foam coolers on all of Miami's beaches. Earlier this year the ordinance grew to cover a foam ban on all city property. Then, on September 2nd, the Miami Beach City Commission voted to expand the foam ban to the entire City of Miami Beach. The ban includes coolers and foam foodware. Miami Beach will begin enforcement with public education, then transition to a warning system, and finally to issuing fines for violations by November of 2016.
“Surfrider Miami and other organizations have worked with the City of Miami Beach to implement this impresive and very important EPS foam ban for a while,” said Surfrider Miami Chapter Chair Jayson Koch. “We salute the City of Miami Beach for their leadership and look forward to working with them to ensure implementation and enforcement of the new ordinance. We can now shift our efforts to getting the Florida legislature to pass a pilot program to ban single-use plastic bags across Florida in 2016!”
This momentous occasion marks the first major city in Florida to implement an EPS foam ban. While Miami Beach joins the villages Bal Harbor and Key Biscayne as the only municipalities in Florida to implement EPS ordidances, that may not be the case for long. The City of Orlando is under pressure from the Central Florida Chapter and the No Foam Zone Coalition to create a No Foam Zone outlawing EPS foam within city limits. Other cities in Florida are following these efforts closely, and considering their own ordinances.