2005 Year in Review

Styrofoam – Marvel or Menace?

Take another look at that disposable coffee cup you’re holding. Is it a technological marvel or an environmental menace?

The Styrofoam that keeps your coffee hot and your eggs from breaking is an economical product used in everything from packing peanuts to sanitary food service packaging.

However, Styrofoam is manufactured using a process that some people question. It’s made from non-renewable petroleum products and it doesn’t biodegrade in the environment. So what’s the truth about the material that’s got a foothold in so many areas of our lives?

As with most things, the answer isn’t clear-cut or definitive, said Duane Friend, a natural resources educator with University of Illinois Extension.

To begin with, that cup you’re holding isn’t really Styrofoam the brand name. In the same way we call every tissue a Kleenex, Styrofoam has become the generic term for a popular product.

“Styrofoam was created in the 1940’s when Dow Chemical Company needed a flexible electrical insulator,” said Friend. Today it is used in a variety of building materials, pipe insulation and floral and craft products, but not coffee cups.

What most of us refer to as Styrofoam, said Friend, is really ‘foamed polystyrene.’ Polystyrene is made from styrene, which can be found in naturally occurring substances, or from synthetic styrene, made from petroleum byproducts. Foamed polystyrene is produced when gases are blown into heated polystyrene.

“Originally, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) were sometimes used as the blowing agent in the manufacturing process. But that was an environmental concern, because CFC’s cause destruction of the ozone in the stratosphere,” said Friend. However, the use of CFC’s has been completely phased out of polystyrene production since 1990.

Today, foamed polystyrene is manufactured primarily using two types of blowing agents – carbon dioxide or pentane. Neither have any effect on the upper ozone layer. And according to the manufacturers, the pentane emissions are captured to prevent low-level smog formation, and the carbon dioxide is recovered to prevent an increase in the CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

Another concern is the use of non-renewable petroleum products in the production of synthetic polystyrene. However, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the manufacture of all polystyrene uses a fraction of one percent of the nation’s natural gas and petroleum.

Foamed polystyrene does not biodegrade, but in today’s highly engineered landfills, this is not a problem.

Friend said landfills are designed to minimize contact with air and water required for degradation, so almost all waste in them biodegrades at an extremely slow rate. Also, according to the U.S. EPA, polystyrene food service packaging accounts for less than one-half of one percent of municipal solid waste – when measured by weight.

“However, everyone does agree that when these products become litter, they represent a significant environmental problem,” said Friend.

Finally, small amounts of styrene can leach out of polystyrene products and into food, especially under high heat. Because low-level exposure risks are still undetermined, don’t warm up your Kung Pao chicken in the container it came in.

“That especially goes for any food products high in vitamin A, line cheese pizza, carrots or instant oatmeal,” said Friend. “These foods can add to the leaching effect.”

“The use of polystyrene products is a personal choice,” Friend concluded. “When they’re used improperly, they can quickly become an unsightly environmental nuisance, or have potential health risks. If you use them properly, they’re economical, sanitary and have a low environmental risk.”

by  Editor, theCity1.com
April 22, 2005