Styrofoam may be cheap, but it comes with many costs
Every year, the world produces more than 29 million tons of polystyrene to make packaging materials, food service containers, and more.
TSS Thermalist
February 3, 2023 | Sustainable Leadership
The Environmental Impact of Styrofoam: The Hidden Costs
Every year, the world produces more than 29 million tons of polystyrene to make packaging materials, food service containers, and more. Because expanded polystyrene (EPS), also known as Styrofoam, is lightweight and relatively inexpensive, it has become prevalent in a wide variety of industries. But its low-cost and lightweight comes with costly hidden expenses to our environment, our health, and ultimately our bottom line.
80% of Styrofoam ends up in landfills (and much of the remaining 20% in waterways)
Styrofoam contributes to increased emissions and litter.
Styrofoam is one of the most environmentally unfriendly types of waste that exist today. In fact, as far back as 1986, Styrofoam was the fifth largest creator of hazardous waste according to the EPA.
Manufacturing polystyrene is a fossil-fuel intensive process and releases greenhouse gas emission in the atmosphere. And because Styrofoam is nearly as light as air, it’s easy for the tiny pellets that compose it to break off and float away, ending up in waterways and streets.
More than 25% of landfills (by volume) are polystyrene products
Styrofoam is expensive
to recycle.
There’s a reason less than 1% of Styrofoam is recycled in the United States. It costs approximately $3,000 to recycle one ton of polystyrene, compared to $50-$150 to recycle one ton of curbside recycling materials. This makes recycling polystyrene a loss-making proposition for most recyclers.
Why is it so expensive to recycle Styrofoam? It is logistically very complicated to recycle Styrofoam, which is essentially just tiny pellets and air. And the cost of transporting Styrofoam to a recycling plant is expensive. Styrofoam takes up an enormous amount of space in shipping containers and trucks, making it costly and impractical to transport.
18% of coastal clean-up costs are attributed to polystyrene products
Styrofoam is associated with health risks.
Styrofoam is made from three precursors: benzene, styrene, and pentane. The Department of Health and Human Services, the International Agency for Cancer Research, and the EPA have determined that benzene is carcinogenic to humans, with long-term exposure increasing the risk of leukemia. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also determined that styrene is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. Finally, pentane is a highly flammable gas which may evaporate from expanded polystyrene during processing and create a fire hazard when the product is exposed to heat.
Styrofoam takes an estimated 500 years to decompose
The bottom line.
Students at the St. Louis University’s MBA program have estimated that the health costs of cancer risks associated with Styrofoam production costs $100 million and the annual social costs of greenhouse emissions from Styrofoam production come to $4.9 billion. All considered—cleanup costs, carbon emissions, environmental costs, and potential health effects—the hidden costs of Styrofoam comes out to $7 billion annually.
A groundbreaking alternative.
Renewliner from TSS delivers the thermal performance of Styrofoam, in an even lighter and much, much more sustainable package.
