District decides paper over plastic

Michael Miller

Last February, Newport Harbor High School’s surf and environmental

class gathered at the Santa Ana river jetties for its annual beach

cleanup. The 20-odd students had two missions that winter morning: to

remove as much trash as possible from the shore, and to figure out

which substance was causing the most pollution.

The first task was difficult. The second was easy. By the time

half an hour was over, the students had filled 10 trash bags with

discarded plastic foam.

“You could come out here every day with 100 people and it would

take 20 years to pick it all up,” said sophomore Christian Winkler,

16, who was among those maneuvering the tide pools to pick out tiny

fragments of cups and plates made of the stuff.

Four months later, Newport Harbor High has done a

small-but-significant part in the battle for cleaner beaches. On

Tuesday, the surf and environmental students held a press conference

at the Santa Ana river jetties to announce their school has become

the first in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to discontinue

the use of plastic foam cups and plates on campus.

“When I was a kid, there was no Styrofoam,” said teacher Scott

Morlan, who advises the class. “Everything was cardboard plates,

cardboard cups. Styrofoam didn’t come into play until about the late

60s.”

Over the years, polystyrene or plastic foam, of which Styrofoam is

the most well-known brand, has become a staple in school cafeterias

and restaurants. Although attractive to many because of its low cost,

the material is also difficult to recycle and a constant

environmental hazard -- particularly in the ocean, where fish often

choke on its fragments.

During the beach cleanup in February, the students filled out data

cards which indicated the amounts of different kinds of trash in the

area. After polystyrene finished on top, the cleanup’s sponsor, Earth

Resource Foundation, advised the students to write letters to

district officials asking them to stop using the substance.

The students responded by writing to Dick Greene, Newport-Mesa’s

director of nutrition services, who attended surf and environmental

class meetings over the next few weeks. Finally, last month, Greene

ordered Newport Harbor cafeteria director Sue Lindsey to discontinue

the school’s supply of polystyrene plates and cups, and begin buying

paper ones instead.

Now Newport Harbor is down to its last batch of plastic foam, as

fiber pulp and wax paper have begun to clutter the cafeteria tables.

And while the new policy hasn’t put an end to littering on campus,

Morlan’s students are pleased to be rid of the old material.

“The big issue was Styrofoam plates, because everyone buys pizza

on them,” said junior Chris Burns, 17. “They stack up in trash cans,

or people just leave them on tables and they wind up around campus.”

Winkler said the problem is at its worst during Santa Ana winds,

which carry cups and plates into the gutter and into the Santa Ana

river. Stephanie Barger, executive director of the Earth Resource

Foundation in Costa Mesa, estimated the plastic foam the Newport

Harbor students gathered in February flowed downstream from as far

north as Big Bear.

The polystyrene campaign marked the second time Newport Harbor

students have lobbied for a local environmental cause.

Last year, the school’s Earth Resource Club was among those

campaigning for a smoking ban on Newport Beach’s shores. Barger said

when the students did their annual cleanup at Blackie’s beach in

2004, they picked up around 12,000 cigarette butts. The Newport Beach

City Council eventually passed the smoking ban in September.

So far, the only apparent difficulty with Newport Harbor’s

anti-polystyrene policy has been the cost. Part of the reason so many

schools have adopted plastic foam products is because the material

costs considerably less than paper. According to Lindsey, the bill

for 1,000 paper cups is more than three times that for the same

number of polystyrene cups. Still, she was happy to support the new

system.

“They’ve opened our eyes to a lot of things because we’re

naturally running a business here,” she said. “We’ve always gone for

the cheaper thing, which is Styrofoam.”

To help offset the cost of paper, Lindsey said, members of the

surf and environmental class have begun ordering more food and

bringing friends to the cafeteria with them. In addition, some

students have made their menu choices more eclectic than in the past,

opting for vegetarian pizzas and sandwiches -- and the paper plates

that come beneath them.

Greene said the district was still weighing the economic

consequences of using paper products. If costs prove manageable,

Newport-Mesa may pull the plug on polystyrene at other secondary

campuses next year.

“We want to help the kids set an example and help them in their

efforts to spread public awareness on this issue,” Greene noted.

Regardless of whether it can support paper or plastic foam,

Newport Harbor has taken another step toward a cleaner campus in

September.

After instituting the pilot program, Greene sent the surf and

environmental class six new trash cans to set around the school’s

parking lot and entrance. To make the cans more eye-catching, the

students have enlisted local artists to paint them. Brett Walker, a

member of an artists’ collective in Costa Mesa, designed one with

trees and a recycling logo.

“We’re fired up by this campaign because it was conceptualized by

the kids,” Walker said. “I think it’s great that kids are being

proactive about making positive change.”