PORTSMOUTH�� The City Council has passed the first municipal ban on Styrofoam cups and containers in New Hampshire.

The council voted 8-0 to ban Styrofoam cups and containers during its Monday night meeting. The new ordinance will go into effect at the end of 2020.

The City Council also voted 8-1 to regulate single-use disposables on all city-owned property and official city events. Councilor Rick Becksted voted against the ordinance, which will also go into effect at the end of 2020.

The council voted unanimously to pass a distribution of single-use disposables policy, which became effective as soon as it was passed Monday.

Councilor Josh Denton, who drafted the policy and both ordinances, said the policy is aimed at �encouraging people to follow the ordinances and determine the best practices before the new ordinances go into effect.�

�It gives folks over a year to get ready for the ordinances,� Denton said Tuesday.

Denton, who has been working more than five years to convince a majority of the City Council to pass an ordinance regulating single-use disposables, credited students from Portsmouth High School�s Eco Club for getting the citywide ban passed.

�I give the majority of the credit to the Eco Club students who came to the hearings, dressed up, wrote letters to the editor and made their presence known,� Denton said.

Before those students got involved, he believed an ordinance proposing a citywide ban on Styrofoam would come down to a 5-4 vote.

�It would not have been unanimous without their work,� he said.

Highlights of the regulation of single-use disposables on city property include:

* Charging a 10-cent fee for every paper shopping bag issued that�s more than 6 inches long.

* Allowing single-use plastic bags only to be used for transporting prepared foods, which will also come with a 10-cent fee.

* Charging a 10-cent fee for every single-use cup that is issued when a thermos, mug or reusable bottle could have been used instead.

* Any cup issued must be compostable and the seller must provide a composting bin on site.

* Allowing for straws to be distributed only following a request by a customer. Such straws must be compostable and the seller must provide a composting bin on site.

Denton stressed that as he continued to work on the issue his proposals started receiving more and more support. �I�ve said time and time again time is on our side,� Denton said Tuesday.

The City Council voted to implement the city-wide ban on Styrofoam even though the Legislature has not passed enabling legislation for cities and towns to do so.

City Attorney Robert Sullivan earlier this year issued an opinion stating the council didn�t have the legal authority to ban single-use disposables citywide. Portsmouth, or any other municipality in the state, can�t regulate single-use disposables because �there is insufficient state enabling legislation to provide the city with that power,� he said.

Denton and others have maintained the city has the authority to implement such a ban because of the state�s solid-waste statutes. But Denton acknowledged Tuesday by approving the Styrofoam ban, �the city is taking a risk.�

�We�re protecting the environment," he said. "It�s a risk worth taking."