- All plastics including expanded polystyrene foam, commonly referred to as Styrofoam, are made from petroleum – a non-renewable, highly toxic, polluting, and increasingly contaminating product.
- Three million tons of Styrofoam are produced annually in the U.S. (which is enormous given how light weight it is).
- Some experts estimate the decomposition of these plastics to be 500 years and as it decomposes toxic chemicals will leach into the ground.
- No meaningful recycling of Styrofoam exists due to high food contamination rates and a very weak market to clean, handle and process the material.
- Styrofoam packaging is littered more than any other waste product (despite it being 1% of all waste).
- Littered Plastics and Styrofoam will break down into microplastics which will linger in the soil and water for centuries to come. A new international research study has shown that 83% of the samples from around the world were contaminated with invisible micro plastics. The US had the highest contamination rate at 94%.
- All of these toxins are coming back to our bodies with increasing rates of Cancer and many other related diseases.
- Toxic chemicals leach out of polystyrene products into food and threaten human health and reproductive systems.
- 10-40% of all litter found in streams is composed of Plastic and Styrofoam
- Over 50 chemical byproducts are released during the manufacturing process.
If these facts do not worry us enough to take some action, what will?
Do you wish to be part of the solution or the problem?