Our Selfishness Floating in the Ocean, Styrofoam!

WWF(World Wide Fund for Nature) released a report titled ‘No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People’ with the University of Newcastle in Australia. The research says that there is plenty of microplastic in water and foods we eat every day. The astonishing finding that each one of us intakes approximately 2,000 pieces of microplastic every week has brought people’s attention even more closely to the marine waste issue. Furthermore, it is also reported that polystyrene has been detected the most among the microplastic found in the seafoods.  Let’s find out more details about this material.

What is Polystyrene?

<Different types of Polystyrene>

Polystyrene is generally classified into 3 different types; regular polystyrene, high-impact polystyrene, and expanded polystyrene. Regular polystyrene is used for transparent cases, insulation in construction, food and other packaging containers while high-impact polystyrene is for cases for electronic products, stationery, trays for frozen foods, and containers for ice cream and yogurt.

Lastly, expanded polystyrene is more commonly known as Styrofoam, its trademark, to us. As made from the combination of hydrocarbon gas and polystyrene resin, Styrofoam is very light, economical and easy to fabricate. In addition, it has excellent thermal and shock-absorbing performance that it is used for various products around us.

According to Scientific American, a science magazine for a general audience, the total amount of Styrofoam produced in 2014 was reported as much as 28,500 tonnes and 90% of the product was used for single-use cups, trays, containers, and packaging. The rest can be found in insulation board for roofs, walls, and floors of a building or used as packing peanuts to fill in the empty space in a shipping box.

 

Silent Destructor, Styrofoam

As mentioned above, Styrofoam is closely associated with our daily life. However, it has been blamed for destroying the environment and putting the ecosystem and human health into danger.

①      Impact on the Environment

Because of its low density and porosity, Styrofoam is easily broken into small pieces and often mistaken as food by sea animals. The material then blocks the digestive organs of the animals and its toxicity becomes a great threat to them. Styrofoam tends to absorb some carcinogen such as DDT flown into the ocean with its holes, too. 

Another problem with Styrofoam is that it is difficult to recycle. If recycled, it can be reproduced as trays or buffers. Unfortunately, however, the recovery system for the material is not sufficient, partly because the ingot, the mass produced when Styrofoam is under the temperature of 100℃ and pressure, lost its value as a solid fuel and is no longer preferable material in the recycling industry. Moreover, it takes 500 years to be completely degraded and emits hazardous substances when incinerated.

②      Impact on Human Health

Styrene is a main substance to make polystyrene, but it is registered as a carcinogen by International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2002. Based on the report from National Toxicological Program in 2014, styrene is “reasonably anticipated as a human carcinogen” causing leukemia or lymphoma. Green Health Network, an affiliation of Green Consumer Network in Korea, also confirmed that the material releases endocrine disruptors such as Bisphenol A and styrene dimer, causing precocious puberty, obesity and other serious diseases and it is more likely to release such substances when we heat food in a Styrofoam container. American Chemical Society informed that styrene migration – although it is minor - is detected from Styrofoam.

As styrene’s adverse effects were publicized, some environmental movements occurred to criticize and restrict the use of styrene containers. As a result, there are over 60 countries around the world carrying forward on reducing or banning the use of single-use plastic products including the ones made of polystyrene, plastic utensils and straws at the moment.

This global trend has become a great burden on packaging manufacturers. New York Times said that Dart Container Corporation, a major Styrofoam disposable food containers manufacturer in the US, has been in legal fights with some of the states over the restriction on the products.

 

For Us, For the Earth

There happened a couple of tragic accidents related to Styrofoam recently in Korea. One of them was a fire in a warehouse killing 38 people last April. The main cause for the casualties was confirmed to be a toxic gas emitted from a sandwich panel consisting of Styrofoam. The other one happened a month later when the styrene gas leaked from LG Polymers India plants in May. The deadly toxic gas of styrene resulted in taking out 12 lives and putting about 1,000 residents hospitalized within 3 km.

A sandwich panel is commonly used at construction sites since it is cost-effective, easy-to-handle, having excellent insulating property. But it is inflammable and often leads to a big fire with dense smoke and toxic fumes. National Fire Administration in Korea has suggested revising the law not to authorize the use of a sandwich panel for construction for a decade and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport allows the use only for the floor space less than 600㎡ of a building. However, production cost is always one crucial consideration on site and it is inevitably in constant conflict with the idea to prevent potential danger.

Styrofoam is a common material around us. Many of familiar products including an instant noodle container, a tray for fish or meat are made of Styrofoam and it is used to keep food freshness and to prevent the damage during shipment. Moreover, 80% of the buoys used at oyster, laver farms around the West/South Sea are made of Styrofoam. The problem is that these Styrofoam wastes easily break into microplastic after being exposed to waves and UV rays and pollute the marine ecosystem. According to the report released by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the marine plastic litter produced in 2016 in Korea is 77,880 tonnes and the amount of the Styrofoam buoys covers 5.6% among them. If measured by volume, however, it consists more than 30 percent of the total.

The Ministry of Environment released a roadmap for disposables titled ‘The Plan to Reduce the Use of Disposables’ at the end of last year and announced specific plans such as replacing Styrofoam boxes to reusable ones. Furthermore, the plan includes Styrofoam as one of the 9 materials that its recyclability must be tested so that manufacturers and distributors may reconsider the use of the material. In a current recycling system, white and none-contaminated waste are only acceptable. In case of being coated, colored, or contaminated with foods, the recycling cost is relatively high and the recycled product is less likely to be high quality.

Customers prefer disposable products in order to protect personal hygiene after the COVID-19 outbreak. Then, what should we do for ourselves and the environment?

First of all, customers need to clean the Styrofoam containers and packaging thoroughly and put them in the right bin to increase its recyclability as much as possible. Producers, then, should inspect the factors to prevent the product from being recycled as raw material or energy for improvement. It should also be accompanied the effort to minimize the use of Styrofoam considering its negative impact on human health and ecosystem and to replace it to safe and sustainable material.

COVID-19 stopped the plants and changed our daily life. Ironically, we could see the clearer sky, breath fresh air, and witness the recovery of the ecosystem. It made us think how our selfish consumption and actions have been polluting the earth. Wouldn’t it be the right time to acknowledge how we and the environment are closely affected by each other and what value we need to pursue? It surely is in absolute need for the development of environmentally friendly products and selective consumption.