Polystyrene Foam Ban

A covered food service provider is any person engaged in the business of selling or distributing prepared food or beverages for on-premises or off-premises consumption.

Examples of covered food service providers include:

• Food service establishments, caterers, temporary food service establishments, mobile food service establishments and pushcarts as defined in the New York State Sanitary Code;
• Retail food stores as defined in article 28 of the Agriculture and Markets Law;
• Delis;
• Grocery stores;
• Restaurants;
• Cafeterias;
• Coffee shops;
• Hospitals, adult care facilities, and nursing homes; and
• Elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities.

In addition to covered food service providers, no store (retail or wholesale establishment) is allowed to sell, offer for sale, or distribute the following items in or into New York State:

• disposable food service containers that contain expanded polystyrene foam
• polystyrene loose fill packaging (commonly referred to as packing peanuts)
• Effective January 1, 2026: expanded polystyrene foam containers that are not wholly encapsulated or encased within a more durable container and are designed or intended to be used for cold storage (including, but not limited to, coolers and ice chests).

For stores, this prohibition applies to:

• Sales or distribution of banned foam containers or polystyrene loose fill packaging by any retail or wholesale establishment in New York State, and any store outside of New York State, to any person in New York State;
• Online sales of foam containers or packaging to customers in New York State; and
• Sales or distribution to covered food service providers or facilities in New York State that have approved financial hardship waivers. See also Financial Hardship Waiver Overview.

No person, firm, or corporation that produces or imports expanded polystyrene loose fill packaging is allowed to sell, offer for sale, or distribute expanded polystyrene loose fill packaging in New York State. Effective January 1, 2026, no person, firm, or corporation that produces or imports expanded polystyrene containers that are not wholly encapsulated or encased within a more durable container and are designed or intended to be used for cold storage is allowed to sell, offer for sale, or distribute these containers in New York State.

Disposable food service containers made of expanded polystyrene that are banned include bowls, cartons, hinged "clamshell" containers, cups, lids, plates, trays, or any other product designed or used to temporarily store or transport prepared foods or beverages, and includes any container generally recognized as designed for single use. Polystyrene loose fill packaging (commonly referred to as packing peanuts) is also banned.

Polystyrene loose fill packaging (commonly referred to as packing peanuts) are banned. 

Effective January 1, 2026, expanded polystyrene containers that are not wholly encapsulated or encased within a more durable container and are designed or intended to be used for cold storage (including, but not limited to, coolers and ice chests) are banned. 

• drugs and medical devices as defined in the federal food, drug, and cosmetic act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 301 et seq.);
   

• animal biologics, including vaccines, bacterins, antisera, diagnostic kits, and other products of biological origin, and other packaging materials regulated by the United States department of agriculture under the virus, serum, toxin act (21 U.S.C. 151-159), including vaccines;

   

• tissues as defined in section forty-three hundred sixty of the public health law or biological products as defined in the federal Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. Sec 262);

• *temperature-sensitive samples, cultures or specialized laboratory reagents requiring cold storage during shipment, either delivered to or received from:
  • the department of agriculture and market’s food laboratory pursuant to its duties under the agriculture and markets law; or

  • laboratories for testing to help ensure human health, animal health, and/or food safety pursuant to statutory or regulatory requirements of, or standards established under, programs administered by the department, the department of health, the department of agriculture and markets, the United States department of agriculture and/or the United States food and drug administration; or

    * This exemption (in ECL § 27-3003(c)(iv) expires on January 1, 2035.

**Microbial Cultures

• **microbial cultures used for dairy, meat, or fermented beverage manufacturing and requiring cold storage during shipment or delivery to dairy or meat processing plants or breweries and wineries as defined in section three of the alcoholic beverage control law.

  ** This exemption (in ECL § 27-3005(c)(v) expires on January 1, 2030.

Any facility, regardless of its income, operated by a not-for-profit corporation or by a federal, state, or local government agency that provides food and meals to food insecure individuals at no or nominal charge, may request a financial hardship waiver of the requirements of the law.

Examples include:

• Community meal programs;
• Food pantries; and
• Places of worship.

To be eligible for a financial hardship waiver, covered food service providers must meet the following criteria:

• Have an annual gross income under $500,000 per location;
• Do not operate 10 or more locations in New York State; and
• Are not operated pursuant to a franchise agreement.

Financial hardship waivers may be granted for one or more disposable food service containers, to an eligible facility or to an eligible covered food service provider that demonstrates that there is no alternative product of comparable cost that is not composed of expanded polystyrene foam, the purchase or use of an alternative product would create an undue financial hardship, and the main intent is to use up any remaining supply of foam containers. Hardship waivers do not apply to expanded polystyrene containers that are not wholly encapsulated or encased within a more durable container and are designed or intended to be used for cold storage (including but not limited to coolers and ice chests).

• Waiver Request Form (PDF, 2 MB): This form may be used by eligible Covered Food Service Providers and Facilities who would like to request a waiver from the requirements of the Law and who are looking to use up an existing supply of disposable food service containers that contain expanded polystyrene foam.

Translated waiver request available in: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Yiddish, Bengali, Korean, Haitian Creole, Italian, Arabic, Polish