A recent study from Franklin Associates, "Waste Management and Reduction Trends in the Polystyrene Industry, 1974-1997," shows the polystyrene industry diverted 452 million pounds of polystyrene packaging and disposables from the waste stream in 1997.
This report updates the original report covering the period 1974-1994 -- the first documented study of its kind -- and provided a baseline from which all future efforts of the polystyrene industry to prevent waste are measured. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency applauded the polystyrene industry's original effort to account for its waste diversion activities saying, "The study is a credible first attempt at using waste characterization data, industry data, and survey responses to estimate trends in source reduction."
Waste diversion includes source reduction (minimizing the use of materials in manufacturing) and reuse, as well as recovery of materials for recycling. According to the study, total waste diversion of polystyrene packaging and disposables, as a percent of generation, was 15.7 percent in 1997. Between 1974 and 1997, the amount of polystyrene packaging and disposables diverted through source reduction alone prevented more than 2.9 billion pounds of polystyrene from being generated during the 24-year period.
*For 1999 data click on "Polystyrene Benefits Performance and the Environment" brochure, page. 3
"We found that source reduction efforts, as well as reuse and recycling, have a measurable, positive impact on solid waste management," said Marge Franklin, principal of Franklin Associates. An additional benefit of source reduction is reduced energy consumption. In fact, Franklin Associates determined that source reduction of polystyrene is so effective it saves as much energy as recycling at a rate of 51 percent.
"We knew our member companies and others in the industry were practicing resource conservation, but this new information objectively quantifies bonafide efforts to be environmentally responsible and engineer significant material savings," said Mike Levy, executive director of the Plastics Foodservice Packaging Group. "We're proud as an industry to be making positive strides forward in the effort to reduce the municipal solid waste stream and are eager to share this information with solid waste management officials and other interested parties nationwide."
"Polystyrene adds value to thousands of consumer packaging products, and as this study shows, it can also reduce waste up front. Besides providing packaging that protects food and reduces product waste, plastic makes our lives easier and more convenient, while at the same time making efficient use of our resources," says Ronald Yocum, president and CEO of the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council.
The 60-page study covers all types of polystyrene packaging and disposables manufacturing, from injection molding to expandable bead. The full report is available in the Order More Info section of this site.
