Your favorite Seattle restaurant had to make a pretty big adjustment on Jan. 1, the first day of the ban on Styrofoam take-out food containers.

You might think, as I did, that it shouldn't be a big deal for a restaurant to start buying alternatives to Styrofoam, but I soon learned that the price for compostables is quite a bit more, and if your food business does many to-go orders, overhead has just shot up.

"We use a lot of boxes," explained Ott Pinbang, manager of Thai Siam in Ballard. "We are a small business, and we do a lot of take-out."

Pinbang said he's glad for the change because it's good for the environment, but there's no denying a financial impact. He did a lot of research on alternatives before deciding which to use.

"I paid about 7 cents for each Styrofoam box, and now I pay 34 to 44 cents per box," he said.

Ouch. And in this economy, he doesn't feel right about raising prices.

Is a financial squeeze on our family-owned restaurants worth the environmental benefit? Frankly, after reading about the impact of unrecycled Styrofoam, I felt a bit ill. Manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry, polystyrene is really a plastic and does not biodegrade. Recycling is possible but to date only a small percentage is collected and processed.

So the answer is, yes, it is imperative to stop using this stuff for food leftovers and then throwing it away, because it does not go away.

But wait, dost thou see a light on yon horizon? What could it be?

"We are encouraging customers to bring their own containers for leftovers, and they are," said Pinbang.

What better solution could there be? Containers that go from restaurant to refrigerator, no extruded XEPS needed here, no need to break the bank.

I'm loading a (canvas) bag with containers to keep in my car because otherwise I'll never remember, and hereby vow to never bring home leftovers in Styrofoam. Done.

"I love those customers (who bring their own containers)," effused Pinbang.

And I love easy solutions.

Rhonda lives in Ballard and is the Urban Crop Circle Project Leader for Sustainable Ballard. You can reach her with questions or comments at Rhonda@sustainableballard.org, or comment below.