Styrofoam

Less than half of the 280 million metric tons of plastic produced each year ends up in the landfill.  A fair bit of the rest ends up littering the landscape, blown by the wind or washed down streams and rivers into the sea. So far Americans spend $520 million a year to clean up plastic litter washing up on West Coast beaches and shorelines. Efforts to clean up the oceans' enormous swirling gyres of garbage has an incalculable cost. Thus, much of the focus has been on how to stop the river of trash from entering the ocean.

The billionaire mayor who has fought smoking, large-sized sugary drinks and excessive fat and salt announced on Thursday that he will now target Styrofoam, seeking to ban the product used for take-out -- and leftover -- fare. In his 12th and last State of the City address, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he will seek to have the City Council ban polystyrene foam, the ubiquitous, lightweight packaging colloquially known by the brand name Styrofoam. The product has long been criticized by environmentalists because it seems to last forever, easily outliving most anything organic.

The billionaire mayor who has fought smoking, large-sized sugary drinks and excessive fat and salt announced on Thursday that he will now target Styrofoam, seeking to ban the product used for take-out -- and leftover -- fare. In his 12th and last State of the City address, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he will seek to have the City Council ban polystyrene foam, the ubiquitous, lightweight packaging colloquially known by the brand name Styrofoam. The product has long been criticized by environmentalists because it seems to last forever, easily outliving most anything organic.

Less than half of the 280 million metric tons of plastic produced each year ends up in the landfill.  A fair bit of the rest ends up littering the landscape, blown by the wind or washed down streams and rivers into the sea. So far Americans spend $520 million a year to clean up plastic litter washing up on West Coast beaches and shorelines. Efforts to clean up the oceans' enormous swirling gyres of garbage has an incalculable cost. Thus, much of the focus has been on how to stop the river of trash from entering the ocean.

Cattle rustlers: An article in Tuesday's Section A about a resurgence in cattle rustling incorrectly described someone as drinking from a Styrofoam cup. Disposable foam products, such as cups and plates, are made from a different form of polystyrene than Styrofoam.

In her last solo show at Walter Maciel Gallery, in 2008, New York artist Andrea Cohen presented two parallel bodies of work: frail, spindly, freestanding sculptures made from tree branches, vinyl and flat, cut out sheets of Styrofoam, among other odds and ends; and stout, gnarled, pedestal-mounted sculptures made by carving into a solid block of Styrofoam. The former alluded to the craggy shapes and vertical manner of Chinese landscape painting; the latter to the desk- or garden-bound tradition of the Chinese scholar rock.

As his medical problems mount, Shaquille O'Neal is making me think he's Shaquille O'Walton. ALAN MATIS Sherman Oaks The time has come to change Shaq's tattoo from the Man of Steel to the Man of Styrofoam. KAY HARRINGTON Beverly Hills

Re "A boring controversy," Feb. 16 It's sad that the residents of Rossmoor, who moved in next door to an oak woodland, can't coexist with nature. After people cleared away anything that the acorn woodpeckers could have used to store their acorns, it's not surprising that the birds used available Styrofoam window frames for that purpose. It's sad that community leaders have decided that killing these remarkable birds is a viable solution when alternatives exist. Acorn woodpeckers are intelligent and garrulous birds that live in extended family communes and work together for the survival of the group.

I'm an actor who had the good fortune to meet and work with the late Keenan Wynn twice. He was a wonderful humorist, a storyteller, as well as a fine dramatic actor (as we all know). I relished all the time off camera to listen to him; to talk with him; to fetch him his black coffee in a double Styrofoam cup. He taught me more about what works on camera than anyone. I have a signed photo of him with a witty phrase that I look at always. May that fine old man rest in peace.

Great storms do churn our ocean and reveal its contents. Our recent storm was something of a prime example. Living at the beach in Venice, I am something of a fixture on the sand. Each day I walk or bicycle through this environment and simply wonder how good life can be. But then I cast a gaze upon a revolting sight . . . plastic! That's what's out there in our ocean . . . plastic! The stream of Styrofoam cups, plates, containers, etc. were strewn across the entire length of sand. White lines ran to the horizon, white plastic lines--it does not destruct, it just lies there waiting to be picked up . . . more waste, more money!

In her last solo show at Walter Maciel Gallery, in 2008, New York artist Andrea Cohen presented two parallel bodies of work: frail, spindly, freestanding sculptures made from tree branches, vinyl and flat, cut out sheets of Styrofoam, among other odds and ends; and stout, gnarled, pedestal-mounted sculptures made by carving into a solid block of Styrofoam. The former alluded to the craggy shapes and vertical manner of Chinese landscape painting; the latter to the desk- or garden-bound tradition of the Chinese scholar rock.

I very much enjoyed the features on recycling ["Trash Talk," Jan. 29], an intriguing and confusing subject. I would like to know what the cost in lost revenues to the city is from the "recycling bandits," as I call them, who go through the blue bins prior to the city trucks' pickups. I find that they are a nuisance in that they at times dump recycling on the street or into the black bins while they dig to the bottom of the blue bins. In my neighborhood, where trash pickup is on Monday, the bandits steady caravan usually starts about 2 p.m. Sunday and then continues into late afternoon and evening with a little wakeup call at 5:45 a.m. Monday by the jingling of glass bottles in the purloined steel supermarket shopping cart as they make their last stand before the trucks arrive.

Cattle rustlers: An article in Tuesday's Section A about a resurgence in cattle rustling incorrectly described someone as drinking from a Styrofoam cup. Disposable foam products, such as cups and plates, are made from a different form of polystyrene than Styrofoam.

Re "A boring controversy," Feb. 16 It's sad that the residents of Rossmoor, who moved in next door to an oak woodland, can't coexist with nature. After people cleared away anything that the acorn woodpeckers could have used to store their acorns, it's not surprising that the birds used available Styrofoam window frames for that purpose. It's sad that community leaders have decided that killing these remarkable birds is a viable solution when alternatives exist. Acorn woodpeckers are intelligent and garrulous birds that live in extended family communes and work together for the survival of the group.

For the inauguration of a president who promised to be a friend of the environment, what would you expect but carbon-neutral inaugural balls, hybrid Lexuses, organic menus and valet bicycle parking? Political correctness will rule the day. Two Green Inaugural Balls are planned, including one featuring a green carpet made from recycled rug. Official invitations to the Jan. 20 inauguration are being printed on recycled paper. The homeless will be handed used furs.

Since katrina, many New Orleans residents have begun elevating their old houses on tall foundations to comply with new federal flood guidelines -- and to be clear of the water when the next big flood comes. But that solution seems inadequate to Elizabeth English, an engineering professor at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center in Baton Rouge. She worries that those elevated houses will destroy the front-stoop culture that long defined the city's neighborhoods.

Re "A Downside to Weekend's Downpour," Nov. 13: The writer made it sound as though it was the storm's fault that we had cans, cups, bags and Styrofoam spread all over our beaches. However, the people of Southern California are the ones responsible for making our beaches look like garbage dumps. As we throw our cups, empty food bags, cigarette butts, soda cans and other junk onto the street, we do not realize the harm we are causing our ecosystem. Our trash is swept into the ocean, killing fish, seals, dolphins, sharks and other animals.

Answering the call of duty, a mortuary hostess named Hannah Cohen and an apprentice embalmer named Darin Drabing gave up whatever other revelry they might have planned for New Year's Eve and stayed on at work through the first few hours of 1985. They work at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in the Hollywood Hills, just east of Universal City. Each year the all-purpose memorial park keeps its doors open until 2 or 3 a.m.

Re "A Downside to Weekend's Downpour," Nov. 13: The writer made it sound as though it was the storm's fault that we had cans, cups, bags and Styrofoam spread all over our beaches. However, the people of Southern California are the ones responsible for making our beaches look like garbage dumps. As we throw our cups, empty food bags, cigarette butts, soda cans and other junk onto the street, we do not realize the harm we are causing our ecosystem. Our trash is swept into the ocean, killing fish, seals, dolphins, sharks and other animals.

Why do Hollywood knuckleheads keep calling Easter Island's famous stone statues "tiki heads"? That question had representatives of the remote Pacific outpost scratching their heads Thursday as they protested what they say is the latest Tinseltown tiki production--an upcoming "Laverne & Shirley" television special. The prime-time one-hour show "Entertainment Tonight Presents: Laverne & Shirley Together Again" will air on ABC on May 7.