The Effect of Styrofoam

Styrofoam is one brand name for polystyrene products, which are commonly used as food trays and containers. The environmental impact of Styrofoam products is immense, and environmentalists are concerned about the continued use of polystyrene.

Disintegration

• Many products disintegrate within months or years of being placed in landfills; Styrofoam takes thousands of years to decompose. The man-made chemical bonds that create polystyrene are very difficult to break, and it takes millenniums for the product to decay.

Production

• Producing Styrofoam products creates pollutants and waste that end up in water supplies and the air. These pollutants cause further environmental damage to the plants and animals that come into contact with the runoff.

Recycling

• The properties of polystyrene, which is made from petroleum, prevent it from being recycled into anything other than more polystyrene products. This creates further pollution and runoff in production.

Landfills

• Animals that eat Styrofoam products in landfills can choke on them or be poisoned by the chemicals in polystyrene. This creates a number of environmental problems within animal populations, especially when Styrofoam products are eaten by baby animals.

Health Issues

• The use of polystyrene products has been linked to a number of health problems. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Styrofoam may be a carcinogen, which increases the risk of developing certain types of cancer.