PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Doggett, Lloyd [D-TX-37] · D–TX
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Aug 11, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-06 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
Beginning January 1, 2028, this proposal would prohibit food-service providers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers from selling, offering for sale, or distributing specified polystyrene foam food-service items. Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers would also face that prohibition for foam packing peanuts and coolers. Coolers intended for specified medical products would be excluded.
(a) Expanded polystyrene food service ware Beginning on January 1, 2028, no food service provider, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute expanded polystyrene food service ware. (b) Expanded polystyrene loose fill and expanded polystyrene coolers Beginning on January 1, 2028, no manufacturer, distributor, or retailer shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute expanded polystyrene loose fill or expanded polystyrene coolers.
(B) Exclusion The term expanded polystyrene cooler excludes portable containers intended to be used for drugs, medical devices, or biological products.
(9) Expanded polystyrene loose fill The term expanded polystyrene loose fill means a void-filling packaging product made of expanded polystyrene foam that is used as a packaging fill (commonly referred to as packing peanuts).
The bill is titled the Farewell to Foam Act of 2025. Its covered products are polystyrene foam coolers, food-service items, and packing peanuts. Its material definition includes both expanded and extruded polystyrene foams.
This Act may be cited as the Farewell to Foam Act of 2025.
(3) Covered polystyrene foam ware The term covered polystyrene foam ware means— (A) an expanded polystyrene cooler; (B) an expanded polystyrene food service ware; and (C) expanded polystyrene loose fill.
(6) Expanded polystyrene The term expanded polystyrene means blown polystyrene and expanded or extruded foams that are thermoplastic petrochemical materials utilizing a styrene monomer and processed by any technique or combination of techniques, including fusion of polymer spheres (expandable bead polystyrene), injection molding, foam molding, and extrusion-blow molding (extruded foam polystyrene).
(9) Expanded polystyrene loose fill The term expanded polystyrene loose fill means a void-filling packaging product made of expanded polystyrene foam that is used as a packaging fill (commonly referred to as packing peanuts).
Covered food-service items must be made of the specified foam and used to sell or provide food or beverages. They must also meet either of two tests: the manufacturer intends the item to be used once for eating or drinking, or the public generally recognizes it as an item to be discarded after one use. Examples include plates, cups, lids, takeout containers, trays, and egg cartons.
(8) Expanded polystyrene food service ware (A) In general The term expanded polystyrene food service ware means a product made of expanded polystyrene that is— (i) used for selling or providing food or beverages; and (ii) (I) intended by the manufacturer to be used once for eating or drinking; or (II) generally recognized by the public as an item to be discarded after 1 use. (B) Inclusions The term expanded polystyrene food service ware includes any product described in subparagraph (A) consisting of a bowl, plate, hot or cold beverage cup, lid, clamshell, tray, carton for eggs or other food, or any other item used for serving or containing prepared food, including takeout food and leftovers from partially consumed meals prepared by food vendors.
Covered coolers include portable cold-storage containers made partly or entirely of polystyrene foam. Containers intended for drugs, medical devices, or biological products would be excluded from that definition and therefore from the cooler ban.
(7) Expanded polystyrene cooler (A) In general The term expanded polystyrene cooler means a portable container made entirely or partially of expanded polystyrene that is designed or intended to be used for cold storage. (B) Exclusion The term expanded polystyrene cooler excludes portable containers intended to be used for drugs, medical devices, or biological products.
(b) Expanded polystyrene loose fill and expanded polystyrene coolers Beginning on January 1, 2028, no manufacturer, distributor, or retailer shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute expanded polystyrene loose fill or expanded polystyrene coolers.
The definition of manufacturer includes importers of covered products sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the United States. Distributors are those distributing covered products sold or offered for sale in the United States. Retailers include those supplying or offering the products to consumers, as well as those selling them.
(11) Manufacturer The term manufacturer means any person that manufactures or imports covered polystyrene foam ware that is sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the United States.
(4) Distributor The term distributor means any person that distributes covered polystyrene foam ware that is sold or offered for sale in the United States.
(14) Retailer The term retailer means any person that sells, supplies, or offers to consumers covered polystyrene foam ware.
Food-service providers include persons engaged in the business of selling or distributing prepared food or drinks for consumption on or off the premises, including restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, care facilities, and schools. Prepared food must be prepared on the provider's premises for immediate consumption and need no further preparation; qualifying ready-to-eat takeout food and drinks are included.
(10) Food service provider The term food service provider means a person engaged in the business of selling or distributing prepared food or beverages for on-premise or off-premise consumption, including any— (A) food service establishment, caterer, temporary food service establishment, mobile food service establishment, and pushcart; (B) retail food store; (C) delicatessen; (D) grocery store; (E) restaurant; (F) cafeteria; (G) coffee shop; (H) hospital, adult care facility, and nursing home; and (I) elementary or secondary school, college, and university.
(13) Prepared food (A) In general The term prepared food means food or beverages that— (i) are cooked, chopped, sliced, mixed, brewed, frozen, heated, squeezed, combined, or otherwise prepared on the premises of a food service provider for immediate consumption; and (ii) require no further preparation to be consumed. (B) Inclusion The term prepared food includes ready-to-eat takeout foods and beverages described in subparagraph (A).
The Environmental Protection Agency's Administrator would have to issue a written notice for a first violation of the ban.
(1) Administrator The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
(a) Written notification for first violation If a food service provider, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer violates section 3, the Administrator shall provide that food service provider, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer with written notification regarding the violation.
After a violator receives written notice, another violation would require a civil fine, subject to the bill's penalty limits. The amounts would be $250 for the second violation, $500 for the third, and $1,000 for the fourth and each later violation.
(b) Subsequent violations (1) In general If a food service provider, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer, subsequent to receiving a written notification under subsection (a), violates section 3 again, the Administrator shall impose a civil penalty on the food service provider, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer in accordance with this subsection. (2) Amount of penalty For each violation described in paragraph (1), the amount of the civil penalty under that paragraph shall be— (A) in the case of the second violation, $250; (B) in the case of the third violation, $500; and (C) in the case of the fourth, and any subsequent, violation, $1,000.
Food-service providers and retailers with annual revenue below $1 million could receive no more than one penalty under the bill's subsequent-violations provision in any seven-day period. The same limit would apply to manufacturers and distributors with annual revenue below $5 million.
(3) Limitations (A) Food service providers; retailers In the case of a food service provider or retailer the annual revenue of which is less than $1,000,000, a penalty shall not be imposed under this subsection more than once during any 7-day period. (B) Manufacturer; distributors In the case of a manufacturer or distributor the annual revenue of which is less than $5,000,000, a penalty shall not be imposed under this subsection more than once during any 7-day period.
The Administrator could allow a state to carry out enforcement under the bill's enforcement section if the Administrator determines that the state meets requirements the Administrator may establish.
(c) State enforcement The Administrator may permit a State to carry out enforcement under this section if the Administrator determines that the State meets such requirements as the Administrator may establish.
The Administrator could issue regulations considered necessary to implement the bill. This provision permits regulations; it does not require them.
5. Regulations The Administrator may promulgate such regulations as the Administrator determines necessary to carry out this Act.
The supplied actions snapshot, updated August 11, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on March 6, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-08-11T08:05:34Z. 2025-03-06: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 2025-03-06: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-06. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials. The source set does not establish formal earmark status in accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
Narrow exceptions within the bill's main policy warrant scrutiny as targeted benefits. This classification does not establish that they are unjustified.
Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of portable foam containers intended for drugs, medical devices, or biological products would benefit from those containers' exclusion from the cooler ban. This is a specific medical-use exception to the bill's restrictions on foam coolers. The precise boundaries depend on incorporated statutory definitions not supplied here.
(7) Expanded polystyrene cooler (A) In general The term expanded polystyrene cooler means a portable container made entirely or partially of expanded polystyrene that is designed or intended to be used for cold storage. (B) Exclusion The term expanded polystyrene cooler excludes portable containers intended to be used for drugs, medical devices, or biological products.
(b) Expanded polystyrene loose fill and expanded polystyrene coolers Beginning on January 1, 2028, no manufacturer, distributor, or retailer shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute expanded polystyrene loose fill or expanded polystyrene coolers.
(2) Biological product The term biological product has the meaning given the term in section 351(i) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262(i)).
(5) Drug The term drug has the meaning given the term in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321).
(12) Medical device The term medical device has the meaning given the term device in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321).
Food-service providers and retailers with annual revenue below $1 million, and manufacturers and distributors with annual revenue below $5 million, would receive special limits on penalties under the bill's subsequent-violations provision: no more than one penalty in any seven-day period. This limits penalty frequency without exempting those businesses from the ban.
(3) Limitations (A) Food service providers; retailers In the case of a food service provider or retailer the annual revenue of which is less than $1,000,000, a penalty shall not be imposed under this subsection more than once during any 7-day period. (B) Manufacturer; distributors In the case of a manufacturer or distributor the annual revenue of which is less than $5,000,000, a penalty shall not be imposed under this subsection more than once during any 7-day period.
(a) Expanded polystyrene food service ware Beginning on January 1, 2028, no food service provider, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute expanded polystyrene food service ware. (b) Expanded polystyrene loose fill and expanded polystyrene coolers Beginning on January 1, 2028, no manufacturer, distributor, or retailer shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute expanded polystyrene loose fill or expanded polystyrene coolers.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Aug 11, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI