Earthcycle Blog · polystyrene

Polystyrene is one of the most widely used petroleum-based plastic products. We pretty much find it everywhere from insulation material for buildings to rescue equipment to packaging (yes, the “peanuts”) to plastic cutlery, coffee cups, and sandwich boxes.

It is synonymous with Styrofoam which is simply the trademark name owned by Dow Chemical Company. It’s easy to see the popularity of polystyrene given its strength, flexibility, lightweight, floatability, dye capacity, and insulation properties, among others. And yes, it is huge for meeting health safety standards and transportation needs. It is hard to imagine how we coped before the 1983 invention came along.

However, there are some major drawbacks. Polystyrene, or plastic No. 6 (PS), will not biodegrade, and according to Earth911.com, “Polystyrene is not easily recycled because it’s lightweight, has a low scrap value, and is not generally accepted as part of curbside recycling programs.” A recent article on styrofoam from the Centre for Civic Governance even suggested scrap value of polystyrene in the U.S. is negative.

While the polystyrene industry has been taking significant steps to advance the recycling of polystyrene, in looking at long-term market trends, the American Chemistry Council sees continuing challenges. When it comes to food services polystyrene in particular, they say that recycling efforts are not significant because the infrastructure required to do so is simply not sustainable in many markets.

So where does it go? Due to polystyrene’s super light weight, it is unsinkable and easily carried by wind and water, thereby causing a large percentage to end up in places other than landfills.

A recent post on the official EPA blog Greenversation noted that “Polystyrene creates waste that just does not go away.” In particular, we see it floating around in our waterways and oceans providing danger to animals. In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, “There are almost three kilograms of plastic for every half-kilo of plankton, which has a devastating effect on aquatic life that confuse the two” (Civic Governance, 2009). And now, scientists have just discovered another garbage patch in the Atlantic.

In addition, according to the EPA, the production of polystyrene releases 57 chemical byproducts, many of which can cause serious health challenges.

There are many alternatives to polystyrene on the market today, in particular in the packaging world. Click here for a recent post on some of these alternatives.

Here are a couple more interesting links:

Earth Resource Foundation Polystyrene Report

Great Pacific Garbage Patch Video