Environmental Q & A
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The Basics: Environmental Q&A
- Why do we use disposables?
- What is the truth about foam products and our throw-away society?
- Why choose foam products instead of paper?
- What about disposal and landfill issues?
- What is Source Reduction?
- Are foam products biodegradable?
- What is Waste-to-Energy?
- Can foam products be recycled?
- What is the current status of polystyrene recycling?
1. Why do we use disposables?
Disposable foodservice products were initially developed to enhance public health by improving sanitary practices in the foodservice industry. These products minimize exposure to bacteria and other foodborne pathogens. One study concluded early in the solid waste debate that "while these data do not prove that using disposables actually prevents foodborne illness, the fact that reusables have a stastically higher level of microbial contamination than disposables favors the presumption that single service offers a measure of protection that would be missed if solid waste considerations barred them from use." (Felix, Charles W., Chet Parrow, and Tanya Parrow, "Utensil Sanitation: A Microbiological Study of Disposables and Reusables." Journal of Environmental Health September-October 1990: 15.)
Patrons of fast food restaurants, households with young children, hospitals concerned about the spread of foodborne disease, and school cafeterias and other restaurants that cannot accommodate a lunch or dinner crowd with reusables alone attest to the need for an alternative to permanentware. Add to this consideration the energy, water, and detergents used to wash permanentware and it seems clear that disposables have their place in modern life. Many organizations, such as Meals on Wheels, are reliant upon the convenience, insulation properties and high level of sanitation afforded by polystyrene food packaging in providing healthy food to their clients.
A story in Plastics News stated that "Statistics show that home-meal replacement [carry-out from supermarkets, bakeries, and restaurant shops] … skyrocketed in the 1990s … people find they have less time to do more things. Driving growth in the segment is a rise in the number of two-income families and single parents, who see fast food and takeout as convenient substitutes for the time-consuming tasks of shopping and cooking." ( "Foodservice on Merger Diet." Plastics News 16 February 1998: 1.)
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2. What is the truth about foam products and our throw-away society?
"Throw-away society" is a term coined by Life magazine … in 1955! Polystyrene foam unfairly garnered a negative reputation in the early 1990s owing to epithets about "our throw-away society." In fact, Americans generate less packaging waste per person now than they did two decades ago. Society is not more wasteful; we simply have more people, hence more waste. Ironically, this growing population as well as the increased pace of life now makes single-use containers not only convenient, but necessary.
The dilemma, of course, is in choosing a disposable container that minimizes damage to the environment. In this context, much has been made of the choice between coated paper and foam. Since paper is made "from trees," people assume that paper cups must be recyclable and are being recycled, and polystyrene plastic cups can't and aren't. This assumption is not necessarily accurate. Paper cups are coated with plastic in order to contain beverages and other liquids, and are rarely recycled or even composted. They usually wind up in landfills. And because few items biodegrade in modern landfills, even paper products remain entombed there for decades.
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3. Why choose foam products instead of paper?
One of the most obvious advantages polystyrene foam cups have over plastic-coated paper cups is that foam insulates better than paper. Paper cup users frequently use two cups together for hot beverages to protect their hands, or wrap layers and layers of paper napkins around the cup. This practice of "double cupping"an average-weight polyethylene (PE) plastic-coated paperboard cup results in over twice as much energy use and solid waste by volume, and over five times as much solid waste by weight as the use of a single average-weight polystyrene cup. (Franklin Associates, Ltd., Final Peer-Reviewed Report: Life Cycle Inventory of Polystyrene Foam, Bleached Paperboard, and Corrugated Paper Foodservice Products (Prepared for the Polystyrene Packaging Council, March 2006), pp. 2-7, 2-23, 2-43, 2-60) And since foam cups do their job using less material by weight, this can make a significant difference in the cost of resources needed to transport the packaging.
Life cycle analyses suggest that foam holds many other advantages over paper disposables. For example, Professor Martin Hocking, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, has performed a study of foam and paper disposables. The results of his study were summarized succinctly in a Wall Street Journal article in 1991: "[Hocking's] analysis...finds that the environmental impact from the chemicals and energy used in making paper cups, as well as the emissions from incinerating or burying paper cups, exceeds the impact of making and disposing of cups made of plastic foam." (Naj, Amal Kumar. "Foam Cups Damage Environment Less Than Paper Cups, Study Says." The Wall Street Journal. 1 February 1991. See also: Hocking, Martin B. "Is Paper Better Than Plastic?" Consumers' Research October 1991: 28-29; Hocking, Martin B. "Reusable and Disposable Cups: An Energy-Based Evaluation." 18 Environmental Management 6. 1994: 894; Franklin Associates, Ltd., Resource and Environmental Profile Analysis of Foam Polystyrene and Bleached Paperboard Containers. June 1990: 4-1–4-29; Budiansky, Stephen. "Being Green Isn't Always What It Seems." U.S. News and World Report. 26 August 1996: 42.)
When you compare the manufacture of polystyrene foam hot beverage cups to the manufacture of comparable average-weight polyethylene (PE) plastic-coated paperboard hot cups with corrugated cup sleeves, an average-weight polystyrene hot beverage cup requires about one third less energy to produce as a comparable average-weight polyethylene (PE) plastic-coated paperboard hot cup with a corrugated cup sleeve. (Franklin Associates, Ltd. , Final Peer-Reviewed Report: Life Cycle Inventory of Polystyrene Foam, Bleached Paperboard, and Corrugated Paper Foodservice Products (Prepared for the Polystyrene Packaging Council, March 2006), Table 2-2, p. 2-7.) In addition, when you compare the manufacturing process of polystyrene foam cold beverage cups to the manufacturing process of representative-weight wax-coated paperboard cold cups, an average-weight polystyrene cold beverage cup requires approximately half as much energy to produce as a representative-weight wax-coated paperboard cup. (Ibid, Table 2-3, p. 2-8.) For more information go to the Dart Manufacturing Process page.
4. What about disposal and landfill issues?
Compared with many other materials, polystyrene comprises a small percentage of both the total municipal solid waste (MSW) generated and disposed. In fact, all polystyrene plastics in products represent approximately one percent of all products generated, by weight, in municipal solid waste. Of this total, polystyrene foodservice packaging accounts for approximately 0.4 percent, by weight, of all polystyrene products generated. This category includes items such as cups, plates, bowls, trays, clamshells, meat trays, egg cartons, yogurt and cottage cheese containers, and cutlery. Also, polystyrene foodservice products comprise less that one percent (0.7%) of MSW disposed. (Municipal Solid Waste in the United States 2008 Facts and Figures, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, November 2009)
In addition, compared to an average-weight polystyrene hot beverage cup, an average-weight polyethylene (PE) plastic-coated paperboard hot beverage cup generates almost three times as much total waste by weight, (Franklin Associates, Ltd., Final Peer-Reviewed Report: Life Cycle Inventory of Polystyrene Foam, Bleached Paperboard, and Corrugated Paper Foodservice Products (Prepared for the Polystyrene Packaging Council, March 2006), Table 2-10, p. 2-23) and an average-weight polyethylene (PE) plastic-coated paperboard cold beverage cup generates almost two and one-half times as much total waste by weight, as an average-weight polystyrene cold beverage cup. (Ibid., Table 2-11, p. 2-24)
Although greater amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW) have been recycled and composted in the last forty years, the majority of MSW generated in the United States is still safely disposed of in landfills.
Contrary to popular public belief, waste materials do not readily biodegrade in modern landfills. Today's modern MSW landfills are not like compost piles, where the purpose is to bury trash in such a way that it will decompose quickly. Today's modern MSW landfills are designed to discourage biodegradation by isolating the waste from oxygen, sunlight, and water - all of which are required for biodegradation to occur.
Modern landfills are well-engineered facilities that are regulated under strict federal and state regulations to ensure protection of human health and the environment. Because biodegradation can lead to the release of harmful methane gas or leachate, which can contaminate groundwater, it is actually preferable to place non-biodegradable rather than biodegradable products in landfills.
Newspapers and other wastes after 10 years in a sanitary landfill.
Study by Riley N. Kinman, PhD., Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering Hazardous Waste Management Program.
To learn more factual information about landfills, please visit the following websites:
United States Environmental Protection Agency — Landfills
NSWMA/WASTEC The Environmental Industry Association — Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
How Stuff Works — How Landfills Work
EPIC — Retention in Landfills
5. What is Source Reduction?
A number of waste management options are available. One option, called "source reduction," means that less material over time is used to manufacture the same product. This process is also called "lightweighting" or "downgauging." According to a report by Franklin Associates, polystyrene food packaging products were source reduced approximately 9 percent between 1974 and 1994. That translates into 800,000 tons of polystyrene that were source reduced. On a product-by-product basis, the estimated effect of the changes has been in the range of 2 to 25 percent. (Franklin Associates, Ltd., Waste Management and Reduction Trends in the Polystyrene Industry, 1974-1994 1996: 7.)
6. Are foam products biodegradable?
In theory, biodegradation sounds wonderful. Many people purchase paper foodservice packaging because they believe it will biodegrade quickly. We all like to think that litter and solid waste problems could be solved by allowing materials to biodegrade, but seldom are answers to complex questions so simple or easy. In fact, engineers design modern landfills to discourage biodegradation by removing oxygen, sunlight, and water.
Ironically, one beneficial feature of polystyrene foam is that it does not biodegrade significantly. According to Dr. William L. Rathje, an archaeologist with the University of Arizona’s Garbage Project and a leading solid waste authority, "[t]he fact that plastic does not biodegrade, which is often cited as one of its great defects, may actually be one of its greatest virtues." Because biodegradation can lead to the release of harmful methane gas or leachate, which can contaminate groundwater, it is preferable to place non-biodegradable rather than biodegradable products in landfills, although obviously landfilling is a last resort for disposal. For more information, see: Rathje, William L., "Rubbish!" The Atlantic Monthly December 1989: 103. See also: Rathje, William L., and Cullen Murphy, "Five Major Myths About Garbage, and Why They’re Wrong," Smithsonian July 1992: 5.
7. What is Waste-to-Energy?
Burning polystyrene foam through a controlled process called Waste-to-Energy (Wte) is another waste management option. Polystyrene foam is composed of carbon and hydrogen. When incinerated in a licensed and properly operated modern incinerator, the material generates a high BTU content. Moreover, only carbon dioxide, water, and trace amounts of ash remain after waste-to-energy conversion. (See, for example: The Polystyrene Packaging Council,Polystyrene and Its Raw Material, Styrene: Manufacture and Use January 1996: 30.)
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8. Can foam products be recycled?
Recycling is an option. Polystyrene is a thermoplastic, which means that it can be completely recycled. Polystyrene foam foodservice products are technically very easy to recycle and can be recycled as part of an integrated solid waste management strategy.
Though the challenge to recycling polystyrene foam is in efficiently and economically collecting clean material and transporting it to a recycling facility, at this time, post-consumer polystyrene foam foodservice products are being recycled in select locations in North America (see No. 9 below). However, due to unfavorable economics associated with transportation and contamination issues, post-consumer polystyrene foodservice products are not widely recycled currently in the U.S. or Canada.
It is important to point out, however, that no disposable foodservice products (e.g., plastic, paperboard, other) are recycled in a significant way owing to the same unfavorable economics. In stark contrast, the reality is that single-use paperboard foodservice products are not recycled because most paper foodservice products are made from multiple materials. Most of these products are coated with polyethylene plastic or wax that enable them to safely hold foods and liquids, but makes them difficult and very expensive to recycle. The fact that single-use paperboard products will not be recycled means that they will be landfilled or incinerated, which works against efforts to minimize waste.
In addition, when considering the biodegradability and compostability of these products, because of the plastic coating, single-use paperboard foodservice products are essentially no more degradable than polystyrene products.
9. What is the current status of polystyrene recycling?
While recycling them is often challenging due to unfavorable economics associated with transportation and contamination issues, single-use polystyrene foodservice products are not only recyclable, they are the most recycled of all foodservice materials today – paper or plastic – and are recycled in select locations in the North America.
In the US, Los Angeles, Torrance, Pasadena and Thousand Oaks California are a few of the cities that collect and recycle single-use polystyrene foodservice products in their residential blue box collection programs.
In Canada, foam cups and containers can be and are currently being recycled. In fact, in Ontario, approximately 90 municipalities, representing over 50 percent of all households in the province, have access to blue box recycling programs (both curbside and depot collection) that collect post-consumer foam cups and containers. Also, the City of Toronto added foam cups and food containers to the City's Blue Box program in December 2008.
In addition, Dart currently operates several polystyrene foam drop-off locations at our North American production plants for anyone who wishes to recycle foam products. In addition we have recycling centers at several of our production facilities, capable of reprocessing 12 million pounds of foam products annually (View our Recycling Information) Dart engineers invented a state-of-the-art process for washing and drying used foam foodservice products. These plants receive foam from local schools, community recyclers, supermarkets, hospitals, manufacturing plants, cafeterias, and individuals. Dart sells its recycled polystyrene to manufacturers who reprocess it into useful products.
Also, in 1990, Dart instituted two portable, off-site recycling programs. The first program, CARE (Cups Are REcyclable), provides larger institutional users of foam products (and municipalities) with an integrated, efficient method of recycling. The customer leases a densifier on the premises to crush postconsumer foam foodservice products (e.g., cups, plates, bowls, clam shell containers) into a cylinder for convenient storage and transportation. The cylinder is then backhauled on a Dart truck for reprocessing at a Dart recycling facility.
The second effort, Recycla-Pak, is a mail-back program designed for beverage service on a smaller scale. The program allows businesses such as delis or coffee shops to collect and return used foam cups in specially-designed Dart Recycla-Pak cartons, shipping prepaid. The cups are then recycled in a Dart or industry facility.
These off-site programs warranted recognition from the EPA's Office of Solid Waste in a 1992 letter, stating, "Dart's initiatives to foster recycling of its products are precisely the sort of actions that we would like to see adopted throughout corporate America." The company's recycling programs have been presented with numerous awards, including an Earth Effort Packaging Award from McDonald's Corporation, an award from the California Integrated Waste Management Board, and several Hillsborough County, Florida Business Recycling Awards, and others. .
If you want to locate specific information about whether polystyrene recycling outlets exist in your community, view Dart's Polystyrene Foam Recycling information or visit www.epspackaging.org.
