As of March 2024, 11 U.S. states and two territories have passed statewide legislation to explicitly ban polystyrene foam: 
* In 2019, Maryland was the first state to enact a ban, which went into effect on October 1, 2020. Bans were also passed that year in Maine and Vermont, with both states' laws taking effect on July 1, 2021.
* In 2020, New York passed a ban that took effect on January 1, 2022, while New Jersey passed a ban that took effect on May 4, 2022.
* In 2021, Colorado passed a ban that took effect on January 1, 2024. Virginia passed a ban on polystyrene foam takeout containers that will come into force for large businesses by July 2028 and for small businesses by July 2030. Washington also passed a polystyrene ban, effective starting in June 2023, with food serviceware prohibited starting June 1, 2024. 
* In 2023, Delaware, Oregon and Rhode Island all signed bans into law, with provisions set to take effect in each state in 2025.
* Washington, D.C. banned polystyrene foam takeout containers on January 1, 2016. The ban was expanded on January 1, 2021, to include the retail sale of polystyrene foam.
* American Samoa banned the import, sale, and distribution of polystyrene foam containers on February 6, 2024, taking effect 60 days later.
In Hawaii, a de facto ban is in effect after every county enacted polystyrene bans except state-administered Kalawao County. Bans in Hawaii County took effect July 2019, followed by Kauai County, Maui County, and Honolulu County in 2022. Maui separately banned polystyrene foam coolers, and the sale or rental of disposable bodyboards in 2022.
In California, the legislature passed SB54 in June 2022 as the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. The law codifies extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements for plastics, including a requirement that polystyrene be banned if recycling rates do not reach 25% by 2025. Recycling rates averaged 6% at passage, leading some to call the law a de facto ban, anticipating an inability to comply within three years.