Remember those industrial-sized dishwashers that public school cafeterias replaced with Styrofoam cups, plates and bowls?

The machines may be making a comeback, thanks to the urging of local businessman Chris Belland, who last week described to School Board members the effect the non-biodegradable foam material has on the Florida Keys and surrounding marine ecosystem.

Belland, a founder and partner of Historic Tours of America and a recycling advocate, encouraged the board to start using biodegradable trays and plates in school cafeterias, or to revive dishwashers and reusable tableware. Either way, Belland argued, those choices are better for the land and sea environments than Styrofoam, which remains intact in landfills for generations, clutters onshore mangroves and creeks or migrates interminably with ocean currents around the world.

Belland's description of a Texas-sized gyre of Styrofoam and plastic in the Pacific Ocean may have done the trick.

"I think it's something we absolutely should take a look at," School Board member Debra Walker said after the meeting. "We will take a look at which is more cost-effective: bringing back dishwashers and plastic, reusable trays, plates and bowls made of biodegradable material such as recycled paper.

Monroe recently joined a purchasing consortium of other Florida school districts, which lets the school system combine purchasing power for the best price.

Dishwashers began to disappear from school cafeterias in the Florida Keys as more energy-efficient and eco-friendly schools were built, board member Duncan Mathewson said. The machines, which use a lot of water and require electricity or other fuel to heat water enough to sanitize, aren't as energy efficient as disposable tableware.