City Councilman Thomas Small believes – hopes – that the months’-long delay announced here yesterday in the Council’s exploratory discussion of banning polystyrene food containers will not lessen his colleagues’ resolve.

“I don’t see any great advantage in not following through with the ban the way many cities have,” Mr. Small said.

“I think we can wean the fast food restaurants that use polystyrene off it the way that other cities have.”

Two and a half months after the City Council excited environmental advocates by agreeing to pursue a citywide prohibition on polystyrene food containers, complications have developed. At City Hall, no one’s resolve has cooled. But the commitment to ban is more complex than it looked in the summer. So many eateries use various forms of polystyrene that environmentalists say invariably turns into a destructive pollutant, especially in Southern California’s ubiquitous waters.

Starting in November, city staffers will start polling food outlets for basic data on food containers. They will be searching for potential solutions that will mollify both the excited and the worried sides.

A serious environmentalist, Mr. Small will not stand passively on the sidelines, awaiting pollsters’ findings. “I am planning on touring a polystyrene recycling facility,” he said. “I will investigate this some more.”

Mr. Small is not convinced that polystyrene is a “necessary” tool for restaurants. “I understand where there are complexities” to imposing a ban.

Not only restaurants would be affected by outlawing use of polystyrene. “We also get polystyrene from companies like Amazon,” Mr. Small said.

A new date has not been set for the first serious City Council meeting on a polystyrene ban.