Medford, MA Single-Use Items: Polystyrene Foam Rules (2026)

Adopted as Ordinance No. 869 in 2022 and effective July 1, 2023, Section 38-50 prohibits food establishments and city facilities from dispensing prepared food to customers in disposable food-service containers made from polystyrene, the material sometimes called Styrofoam and defined at § 38-49. City departments and agencies are separately barred from purchasing or using polystyrene containers in official duties, and the same restriction extends to individuals, contractors, vendors or other entities using city facilities or property under a city contract, lease, license, permit or grant.

The ordinance carves out personal use: subsection (a)(3) makes clear it does not stop anyone from buying or using polystyrene containers for their own use, a private function, or when serving food on their own property. The health department enforces under G.L. c. 40, § 21D noncriminal disposition per § 38-51: a first offense gets only a written warning, then $100 for a second offense, $200 for a third, and $300 for a fourth and each subsequent offense within a rolling 12-month period. The board of health checks compliance annually as a condition of renewing a food establishment's food service permit.

Section 38-52 allows a one-year, renewable hardship deferment on the same three grounds as the plastic bag ordinance: no reasonable alternative, a legally protected right at stake, or time needed to draw down existing polystyrene inventory, with monthly inventory reports required for that last ground.