WASHINGTON — Plastic foam, the stuff most people know as Styrofoam, is coming closer to a possible ban in Montgomery County. The county council’s committee on the environment voted to send the bill to the full council for a vote.

Councilman Hans Riemer, said of the bill, “At its core, this bill is about reducing harmful litter from our entering streams, rivers, and eventually bay. I look forward to early next year when the full council will take up this crucial environmental legislation.”

If the bill is passed, stores, restaurants and food outlets would be banned from using cups, trays and containers made of the polystyrene foam by 2016.

Another feature of the bill would require food outlets to use compostable or recyclable food containers by 2017.

D.C. has passed a similar ban, and Prince George’s County council officials are looking at a similar measure as well..

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