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| Home > Resources > Plastics > Styrofoam |
Hold the Styrofoam, PleaseWhen it comes to recycling plastic, there is one type in particular that gets people talking: Styrofoam. The name Styrofoam is really just the Dow Agro Chemical company’s way of saying “expanded polystyrene foam.” From coffee cups to egg cartons, meat trays to packing peanuts --- it shows up everywhere. The eternal question is: what do we do with it once it has served its purpose? Reuse options exist, but are limited. Sony Manufacturing in Taiwan doesn’t really want its TV packaging back. Recycling the material is another option. Because polystyrene is mostly air and so little actual plastic, there is very little material to get any value from. And, like so many other markets, price fluctuations make financial feasibility a tricky business. The strong Canadian dollar has meant that recyclers such as the Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Association (CPRA) in Mississauga have had to close down. On the other hand, the demand for recycling facilities is real, and new businesses are popping up all the time: the CPRA was re-opened under a new name, Grace Canada in Ontario, and Florida-based Blue Earth Solutions, just to name a few. Recycled or not, public opinion about polystyrene has been less than enthusiastic since the 1980’s. We all remember the public pressure on McDonald’s to switch away from the puffy plastic. One polystyrene retailer in Oregon was recently shamed out of business. Petitions from concerned parents of the schools he supplied made him close his doors, despite the fact that he arranged for the used products to be recycled. City councils all over the place are banning polystyrene. Small communities like Tyson Valley, Alberta and larger ones such as San Francisco and Seattle have banned use of the material as food containers. Does this mean we will see the disappearance of polystyrene in the not-too-distant future? Possibly. Manufacturers are already using alternative products: molded paper fiber packing, clear plastic and paper egg cartons and plastic air pockets for shipping. Of course, these alternatives are still mostly designed for one-time use. While Styrofoam may disappear, the issues of packaging items to ship long distances and convenience will not. (Source: August 2008 WasteWatch)
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