This commentary is by Julie Silverman, Lake Champlain Lakekeeper at the Conservation Law Foundation.
I’ve spent decades sailing on the waters throughout the Northeast, including on our own Lake Champlain. In recent years, I’ve begun to notice more and more trash floating in the water and washing up on beaches. From balloons to fishing gear to plastic, this problem only seems to be getting worse.
However, one type of trash has been more abundant than any other: the bright blue and white foam often used to support docks.
I’ve worked with volunteers to clean up hundreds of blocks of broken dock foam — some the size of clothes dryers ― that washed ashore on remote islands in Maine. And I’ve scooped up tens of thousands of tiny white beads of dock foam from Lake Champlain’s beaches after a storm.
Commonly known as Styrofoam, this pollution isn’t just an ugly nuisance. It can cause serious harm to the wildlife that eats it. It gets into the fish we eat, and it contaminates our drinking water.
If that weren’t bad enough, polystyrene is made from fossil fuels, which means it is contributing to the climate crisis from the moment it is manufactured. Finally, the toxic chemicals used to make Styrofoam can leach out into our waters.
Let’s be clear; docks are not the problem, it’s the plastic foam. The docks that pollute our lakes and rivers use exposed foam blocks (called “unencapsulated foam”) or floats filled with loose white foam beads. Docks with unencapsulated foam are likely older or abandoned, as many dock manufacturers no longer sell that product.
When these older foam blocks break down, or the tiny loose beads spill out, it is nearly impossible to collect all the pieces. That means we are stuck with that pollution — and the risks it poses to our environment, wildlife, and human health — for decades to come.
It’s time to put an end to this pollution, and Vermont’s Legislature has taken notice.
A new bill, H.373 — supported by the Conservation Law Foundation and other advocacy organizations, including Lake Champlain Committee and the Connecticut River Conservancy — has been introduced that would prohibit the sale of unencapsulated polystyrene foam floatation and loose-bead foam-filled flotation in docks, mooring buoys, and other structures on Vermont’s lakes, ponds and rivers.
The proposed bill would also require that docks be maintained and repaired to prevent polystyrene foam from leaking and disintegrating into the water. And any existing unencapsulated foam and loose-bead foam floats must be removed and properly disposed of within two years after the bill’s passage.
The problem with polystyrene is that it’s brittle. It easily breaks apart when it’s exposed to the sun, wind, waves and ice. Like other plastic pollution, it also never breaks down or goes away. It keeps accumulating in our waters, in wildlife, and on our beaches.
Because of these harmful qualities, Vermonters have already banned most polystyrene foam food and beverage containers, which is already having an impact on this scourge of pollution. It’s time to take the next step and ban this toxic pollution from docks as well.
Five other states have already passed legislation regulating polystyrene foam in floating docks. Let’s make Vermont the sixth to commit to cleaner healthier water for swimming, fishing, paddling and wildlife.