MARQUETTE — A grass-roots group advocating for the elimination of single-use styrofoam containers in the City of Marquette held a meeting at the Peter White Public Library.

StyroFree Marquette is seeking to get restaurants and other institutions to consider ending the use of the styrofoam to-go containers and cups. They want to have old styrofoam containers replaced by containers made of biodegradable and environmentally friendly materials.

This is because over time the Styrofoam will damage the ecosystem.

“It is not good at all for the environment,” explained Ron Carnell, Coordinator for StyroFree Marquette. “It takes about 500 years for it to breakdown and when it does breakdown and get smaller it becomes part of the food chain for a lot of the wildlife and the fish around the Great Lakes.”

This group has also inspired a lot of members from the community to come out and support the cause. This is due to the fact that fresh water is not something to take for granted just because we live near some of the largest fresh water lakes in the world.

“We have a very big responsibility living so close and on the shores of the largest fresh water lake in the world,” said April Lindala, NMU Professor. “This set of lakes we have that surrounds our state is a great responsibility because we are going to find that water is going to be one of the hot commodities of our future and in the next generations. So it is up to us to take a stand and take care of that of which is close to us. I think that we choose to live here and as such we should choose to protect what is around us.”

The organization is hoping smaller shops will adopt this new platform and then hopefully the larger corporations will follow the example.