Styrofoam food containers in bins. Photo: wk1003mike/Shutterstock.com Styrofoam food containers in bins. Photo: wk1003mike/Shutterstock.com

Attorney General Ashley Moody's office urged the Florida Supreme Court to reject an appeal in a battle about the city of Coral Gables' attempt to ban the use of Styrofoam food containers.

Coral Gables took the dispute to the Supreme Court after the Third District Court of Appeal in August upheld the constitutionality of state laws that blocked a 2016 city ordinance targeting polystyrene, better known as Styrofoam. The city contends, in part, that the state "preemption" of the ordinance violates local home-rule powers.

But in a 12-page brief Tuesday, lawyers in Moody's office said the case "breaks no new ground regarding the nature of the Legislature's power to preempt local ordinances" and, as a result, the Supreme Court should not take it up. The state is allied in the case with the Florida Retail Federation, which filed a brief Monday.