Letter: Ban polystyrene cups, which can't be recycled

I love ordering takeout because nothing pairs better with hours of television than chicken lo mein. But, it is often impossible to recycle polystyrene, which is the material foam cups and takeout containers are made from. Only 0.4% of polystyrene was recycled in 2017. Even worse, polystyrene can be missed by recycling sorters and contaminate other valuable recycling streams like paper.

All too often, polystyrene ends up in the environment, injuring and killing wildlife. While it might seem like keeping polystyrene out of the environment is impossible, since it cannot be recycled, banning it at its source would solve our problem.

The Illinois legislature should ban single-use polystyrene foam cups and containers, since recycling isn't addressing this issue. This ban would reduce plastic pollution and demonstrate that ending plastic pollution is possible.

Alexandra Renoult-Orlandini

Des Plaines