Stewardship Tip Sep 26th, 2008-No More Styrofoam
Commonly called styrofoam, expanded polystyrene (EPS) occupies a significant piece of real estate in our nation’s landfills. Estimates indicate that landfills contain 9.6 pounds of EPS per cubic yard. Because of its light weight, EPS consumes more volume than it’s weight would indicate. Paper, in comparison, consumes 100 pounds per cubic yard; broken glass 2160 pounds per cubic yard.
EPS, when used in food service, has a useful life that is measured in minutes or hours. Yet, it can take hundreds of years to deteriorate in a landfill if it ever breaks down at all. If EPS makes it to the landfill, we can consider ourselves lucky. Nationwide, EPS is one of the main litter culprits; recent studies have indicated that EPS constituted the second most common item extracted from storm drains.
Source reduction is the solution to the problem. Here are three tips to help reduce the amount of EPS in our environment.
No more EPS: Don’t use EPS cups, plates, or containers at work; don’t purchase them at the store. If you use live bait, such as night crawlers, have the vendor place them in a bait bag or old tin can (go retro!) rather than using an EPS bait container.
Educate the industry: Your favorite restaurant serves the best Moo Goo Gai Pan in the area but their take out containers are EPS. Let them know cost-effective alternatives are available that are biodegradeable and manufactured from renewable resources.
Work with your local government: A large number of cities have enacted bans on EPS food service items and the number is growing. Turner Valley, Alberta, recently enacted a ban; Freeport, Maine was one of the first. Banning EPS makes sense for a municipality; there are real costs associated with impounding EPS in a landfill and collecting it off the street. Let your elected officials know where you stand on EPS and what can be done.
Why it is important to the fish: The Algalita Marine Research Foundation found that in at least one area of the Pacific, plastic, including EPS, outweighed plankton by a factor of six! EPS accumulates and concentrates organic chemicals and environmental pollutants up to one million times their concentration in the surrounding sea water. Many of these chemicals are endocrine disruptors and can be released when the plastics are ingested. In fish it can cause males to fail in sperm production.
Whether it affects sea life at the lower end of the chain or the predators at the top, EPS endangers our waterways and utlimately our fish.
The Algalita Marine Research Foundation has done extensive research on the affects of EPS in the marine environment and has taken measures to help in marine restoration.
BPIworld.org has assembled a list of biodegradeable products for the food service industry.
This week’s sponsor-partner:Bio Bait
Bio Bait is a non-petroleum based, biodegradable series of baits. Biobait releases scent into the water at a much higher rate than traditional plastic. Their partnership makes this week’s “Stewardship Tip” possible.
Rising demand for our weekly Stewardship Tip and a new partnership with Fly Cast America now makes the Stewardship Tip available in Spanish. Ahora, reciba el Stewardship Tip en español. Gentileza de Fly Cast America.
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