Last weekend, I went out to dinner with my brother and his lovely GF at a local Italian restaurant. As per the usual, I was unable to finish my dinner so I got my leftovers boxed up. The restaurant uses biodegradeable containers, so I went home happy as a clam.
This got me thinking about styrofoam though, as this seems to be the most popular material used by restaurants when it comes to take out boxes. I did a little research on styrofoam and found out that it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Sure, it’s good in that in maintains its shape and is pretty sturdy, but the environmental and health impacts are bad. Pretty, pretty, pretty bad (as Larry David would say in Curb Your Enthusiasm).
For enquiring minds, here’s a little info on styrofoam:
- It’s made with petroleum
- It doesn’t biodegrade
- It takes up more space in landfills than paper
- It leaches out toxic chemicals which may threaten your health
What can you do to curb the use of styrofoam? Here are some actionable steps.
1. Stop buying styrofoam cups, plates, bowls… Instead purchase biodegradeable products such as those made of post consumer recycled paper.
2. Ask your local restaurants to stop using styrofoam and switch to biodegradeable materials. Sure, some may look at you like you’re crazy and blow you off, but others may surprise you, especially if they are environmentally-minded. Hell, I don’t know about you, but I would be willing to pay a few more cents for my meal if it meant getting a biodegradeable container instead of a styrofoam one.
2a. OK, this one is a little wacky and I have yet to try this for fear of being branded insane, but would it be weird to bring your own tupperware to a restaurant? For example, as I mentioned above, I rarely finish my meals. If I know this, why not be prepared and bring a little tupperware along with me? Less waste for the environment, less cost for the restaurant! And away goes a satisfied customer. What do you think?
3. [Non-food related] When packaging fragile items, avoid using styrofoam products (like those incredibly annoying styrofoam peanuts!). Use newspaper instead.
4. [Non-food related] Write to your local government officals asking them to outlaw styrofoam. Apparently there are already a number of cities (such as San Francisco, Berkeley, CA and Portland, OR) which have passed ordinances banning food vendors from using styrofoam.
I’m sure there are a gazillion other tips to avoid using styrofoam, but I’m still recovering from a debilitating flu/fever so that’s my excuse for not posting more. Please feel free to add your comments if you have any more to add to the mix!
For starters, the polystyrene (PS) foodservice packaging you are dumping on is NOT Styrofoam.
Yes, both are made of polystyrene, but foodservice packaging is expanded polystyrene which is then thermoformed into cups, plates, etc. Styrofoam, a trademark of Dow Chemical, is an extruded polystyrene used as insulation in the building and construction sector.
If you want to be credible, you should get your facts straight, but that might be asking too much of pontificators who repeat the tired old wives tales of the professional activists who presume to tell the rest of us, as if they are our moral superiors, what’s right and what’s wrong with our choices as consumers.
Also, what’s so bloody great about biodegradable? Modern landfills are designed and operated to inhibit degradation of the entombed solid waste. Biodedgrables just don’t degrade in modern landfills. You should familiarize yourself with the book Rubbish by Bill Rathje and Cullen Murphy and you’ll see we’ve already trod this path in the past 20 years.
If we convert to biodegradable packing, does that mean it’s okay to litter (because the stuff won’t degrade in landfill)? Siting landfills is difficult enough, but how many people will want to live near a facility that actively digests so-called biodegradables? No to mention the difficulties one will have trying to recycle plastics contaminated with biodegradable plastics.
You’d be better off castigating people who litter, than asking for government action that impinges on the freedom of buyers and sellers to freely choose how products are packaged. And those who object to said packaging, can always take their custom eleswhere.
Hi, Johnnylucid.
So you’re saying that JB is not credible because she didn’t get the distinction between thermoformed and extruded styrofoam correct? That seems to be the definition of distinction without a difference.
Oh, and you’re also questioning why we shouldn’t create tons and tons of materials that don’t degrade for thousands of years. Hmm. Maybe we should explain to you why it’s not a good idea to wet your pants too. What other explanations would you like?