Styrofoam is a plastic/petroleum product, so it starts off as a plastic pellet (although I couldn't find out how these plastic pellets are made). About 1 millimeter big and it is put through a heating and cooling process. Manufacturers heat the pellets and they expand to about 40 or 50 times its original size. They expand the pellets to whatever sizes they need and then mold and cut it into whatever product they require.
I found a really cool video you can watch to see how styrofoam is made if you **CLICK HERE**
Third question:
Why is it bad?
This is the MEAT part of today's web log. :D
Styrofoam products, whenever it is exposed to any type of heat it lets off a fume that contains a type of neurotoxin. (For those who don't know, neurotoxins damage the nervous system of the body)
Whenever you put a styrofoam plate or bowl into the microwave, or when you pour hot coffee or tea into a styrofoam cup, this poison will seep into your food and you ingest it.
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| I love Cup Noodles.... But.... The styrofoam... |
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| I LOVE plate lunches! But... The styrofoam... |
This fume that is let off from the styrofoam when it is exposed to heat can affect your breathing, your respiratory system, it harms parts of your eye, is an eye irritant and if you're exposed to it for long periods of time it can cause asthma, kidney problems and even cancer.
It's bad for the environment.
As I've said before, styrofoam is a type of plastic so it's a petroleum product meaning it is made from oil.
Styrofoam is made to be a "disposable" product, so you use it once and "throw" it away.
Oil is not a renewable resource so it wastes our oil resources. It's not a sustainable product and you waste your money whenever you buy styrofoam cups, bowls, plates and ice chests.
Whatever you throw away DOES end up in the ocean and Styrofoam is a HUGE player in the marine debris problem.
Styrofoam is plastic. Plastic, whenever exposed to the Sun's UV rays, goes through a process called photodegradation.
Plastic does NOT biodegrade. It photodegrades.
(My video logs on Photodegradation can be found if you *CLICK HERE*
or if you **CLICK HERE** )
So plastic breaks into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces and it just keeps getting smaller to the point where it can even turn into a powder. (Yes, a plastic powder).
Like I said earlier, styrofoam is a major player in marine debris.
Because plastic breaks down into tiny bits, animals in the food chain mistake these plastic bits as a food source.
Animals down in the food chain WILL ingest this plastic thinking it is food. As animals higher in the food chain eat the smaller animals that ate the plastic, they too ingest the plastic.
People, like myself, who love eating fish have most likely eaten plastic at some point in our lives.
The plastic pollution problem is so abundant at this point, that there's no way you have NOT eaten plastic.
Fish, turtles, birds, sharks, whales and different kinds of plankton have ingested plastic in many different forms. Whether it be plastic bags, plastic bits, nurdles, plastic pellets, bottle caps etc.
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| Sea bird died from eating plastic products |
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| Fish caught shown to have plastic in its belly |
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| A sea turtle pooping out a plastic bag |
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(I even found footage of a whale that died from eating plastic bags... It can be viewed if you *CLICK HERE* )
Since styrofoam is virtually weightless, it can easily float across the land and ocean, getting into every major water way and landing onto every coastline, adding more to the pollution problem.
I wrote a web log 2 years back about how after big rains, South Kihei gets a bombardment of trash.
(You can read it by *Clicking Here* )
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| I took this picture on Lipoa St. 2 years ago. This is one of the flooded storm drains outside of what is now Times Supermarket |
From what I've discovered, styrofoam is NOT recyclable if it is "contaminated" with food.
If I were to put coffee in a styrofoam cup, I would not be able to recycle that cup because it has been "contaminated".
یونولیت
Also, remember what I said earlier, about plastic and styrofoam photodegrading?
There are styrofoam bits floating out in the ocean because of pollution. Now think about it:
While the styrofoam is being photodegraded by the Sun (a heat source) it is also emitting that neurotoxin I mentioned earlier.
So, not only is it adding to the pollution problem it is also poisoning the land and waters.
This leads up to my last question: What can you do to help?
The biggest thing you can do right now to help is TO NOT BY THE PRODUCT AT ALL.
Just simply, DO NOT buy it.
YOU as the consumer can choose not to buy.
You can also buy re-usable products such as Jamba Juice mugs or Starbucks cups
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