Spring Break
Alternatives to Styrofoam
Rick Crawford
Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: Forum
How many times do you go out to eat each week? The average American dines in restaurants approximately four times per week and over 200 times per year, according to the National Restaurant Association.
Our fondness for large portions means a significant percentage of these meals end up going home with us. More often than not, our leftovers are packaged in Expanded Polystyrene, the foam material we often mistakenly refer to as "Styrofoam." Styrofoam is actually a registered trademark for insulation materials made by Dow Chemical Company, and Expanded Polystyrene foam (EPS) is the material most commonly used for take-out food packaging. According to a phone poll conducted by the ASOSU Environmental Affairs Task Force last spring, approximately 46 percent of Corvallis restaurants reported using EPS.
Nationally, this practice may be changing. A number of cities across the country have already instituted EPS food packaging bans. These include Oakland, Calif., Freeport, Maine, and Portland, Ore. The ASOSU Environmental and Community Affairs Task Forces are eager to add Corvallis to the list. If the Corvallis City Council were to pass an ordinance banning EPS food packaging, the law would extend to the OSU campus.
Notably, OSU University Housing & Dining Services began phasing out EPS a number of years ago when concerns first arose about its negative environmental impacts. The costs associated with EPS are significant. First, EPS is made from styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon derived from non-renewable petroleum. Once manufactured, EPS is not biodegradable. Foam products take up large volumes of space and subsequently clog landfills. A study by the California Department of Transportation found that EPS comprised 15 percent of the litter collected from storm drains. When pieces of non-biodegradable EPS are ingested by animals, they can cause serious health problems and even death. Although EPS bears the recycling triangle, the market for recycling it is small and dwindling. No company in this area has the facilities to recycle EPS. Furthermore, EPS cannot be recycled in the presence of food contamination - rendering EPS food packaging virtually non-recyclable.
Our fondness for large portions means a significant percentage of these meals end up going home with us. More often than not, our leftovers are packaged in Expanded Polystyrene, the foam material we often mistakenly refer to as "Styrofoam." Styrofoam is actually a registered trademark for insulation materials made by Dow Chemical Company, and Expanded Polystyrene foam (EPS) is the material most commonly used for take-out food packaging. According to a phone poll conducted by the ASOSU Environmental Affairs Task Force last spring, approximately 46 percent of Corvallis restaurants reported using EPS.
Nationally, this practice may be changing. A number of cities across the country have already instituted EPS food packaging bans. These include Oakland, Calif., Freeport, Maine, and Portland, Ore. The ASOSU Environmental and Community Affairs Task Forces are eager to add Corvallis to the list. If the Corvallis City Council were to pass an ordinance banning EPS food packaging, the law would extend to the OSU campus.
Notably, OSU University Housing & Dining Services began phasing out EPS a number of years ago when concerns first arose about its negative environmental impacts. The costs associated with EPS are significant. First, EPS is made from styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon derived from non-renewable petroleum. Once manufactured, EPS is not biodegradable. Foam products take up large volumes of space and subsequently clog landfills. A study by the California Department of Transportation found that EPS comprised 15 percent of the litter collected from storm drains. When pieces of non-biodegradable EPS are ingested by animals, they can cause serious health problems and even death. Although EPS bears the recycling triangle, the market for recycling it is small and dwindling. No company in this area has the facilities to recycle EPS. Furthermore, EPS cannot be recycled in the presence of food contamination - rendering EPS food packaging virtually non-recyclable.
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