Mr. Speaker, bring back our cafeteria paper products.

That was the message in a letter last month to House Speaker John Boehner signed by over 100 Congressmen, including U.S. Reps. John Olver and Richard Neal.

When asked about notable changes under the new House Republican rule, Liz Murphy, Olver's press secretary, glanced at the Styrofoam cup beside her.
After taking control of all the House's administrative functions, Boehner's office got rid of compostable plates and utensils in the busy food court in the basement of the Longworth House Office Building and two other cafeterias.

It was an economy move, Republicans say, because the composting program was costly -- an estimated $475,000 last year.

But unhappy patrons of the cafeteria appealed on health and environmental grounds.
In a letter March 11 to Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the chairman of the House Administration Committee, 115 Congressmen said the use polystyrene "serveware" ignores "external" costs like trash disposal.

It notes that McDonalds got rid of polystyrene foam in favor of recyclable and paperboard containers two decades ago. The foam containers are banned in over 100 cites, the lawmakers noted.

Still not convinced? The letter goes on to say that the International Agency for Research on Cancer lists styrene as a potential carcinogen because it and another material present, benzene, can leach into beverages.
As Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer noted in a blog post, "The use of Styrofoam comes as Republican leadership abandons the overall Green the Capitol programs at a ten-year cost to taxpayers of $50 million in lost savings."

The lawmakers note that the higher cost of paperboard and recycled materials is offset by profits from the cafeterias -- estimated at $879,000 last year.

"The irresponsibility of the decision to use polystyrene foam without considering other options is all the more egregious," the letter says, "because the cafeteria is not merely used by House members and our staffers. The health of constituents and visitors to the Hill who eat in the cafeteria will be impacted by this short-sighted decision. We urge you to bear in mind our responsibility to protect the health and welfare of the American public, now and in future generations, and to reconsider the decision to use polystyrene foam in our cafeteria."

A month after that letter was delivered, stacks of polystyrene still crowd the coffee machines in the Longworth cafeteria.

It isn't only Republicans who doubt the value of composting. The former Democratic chairman of the administration committee told the transition team that he had his doubts about the cost of the composting program, according to Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times.

A spokeswoman for House Administration Committee told Steinhauer that the compostable forks were not strong enough and spoons were softening in hot soups.
As of today, Steinhauer's March 16 Green Blog post about the "fork fracas" had drawn 266 comments, including some that had been removed as inappropriate.

One reader said diners should bring their own forks and spoons and wash them later. Another said her grandmother used rags rather than paper towels.
When it comes to eating responsibly, everyone has an opinion.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere, taunts flew against the Democrats on this issue, much of it along the lines of "Styrofoam doesn't cause cancer, Democrats do."