Did You Know...
Polystyrene represents a tiny fraction - less than one percent by weight - of the solid waste stream.(1)
Prior to 1988, there was essentially no recovery of post-consumer polystyrene for recycling. Although the availability of polystyrene recycling programs varies by community, in 1994, just six years later, more than 34 million pounds of polystyrene were recycled.(2)
There is a strong market for non-foodservice polystyrene recycling for such products as coat hangers, CD jewel cases, nursery trays and foam shape-molded pieces. The percentage of post-consumer polystyrene diverted from landfills, as a result of source reduction, re-use and recycling, has risen from 0.8% in 1974 to 10.4% in 1994.(3)
An average polystyrene foam plate today requires 25% less polystyrene to produce it than it did in 1974.(4)
Between 1974 and 1994, the amount of polystyrene packaging and disposables diverted from the waste stream through source reduction increased more than 20-fold, eliminating more than 800,000 tons of polystyrene.(5)
The amount of polystyrene source reduced in 1994 had an energy savings equivalent of having recycled 24% of polystyrene packaging and disposables produced in that year.(6)
Polystyrene loose fill (peanuts) is one of the most commonly reused packaging materials. Consumers and manufacturers re-use nearly 30 percent of all loose fill; for mailing services, the reuse rate is as high as 50 percent.(7)
No chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are currently used in the manufacture of polystyrene foodservice products and haven't been since 1990.(8)
Nothing, not paper, plastic or even food, readily degrades in a landfill - and it's not supposed to. Because degradation creates harmful liquid and gaseous by-products that could contaminate groundwater and air, modern landfills are designed to reduce the air, water and sunlight needed for degradation, thereby practically eliminating degradation of waste.(9)
Under most circumstances, polystyrene foam foodservice packaging is more cost effective than its alternatives, allowing institutions such as school districts and hospitals to direct more of their budgets to more important uses.
(1) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 1994 Update.
(2)-(7) Franklin Associates, Ltd., "Waste Management and Reduction Trends in the Polystyrene Industry, 1974-1994," August 1996.
(8) April 12, 1988, "Statement of Support" by Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth.
(9) "Rubbish!" by William Rathje, The Atlantic, December 1989.
