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Environmental Hazards of Styrofoam

Called "white pollution" as it often ends up as marine debris, the United States produces about three million tons of polystyrene, commonly called Styrofoam, each year, according to Environment California. A non-sustainable, non-renewable, petroleum-based product, polystyrene pollutes the environment. Manufactured to become items like plates and packaging materials, it even gets used in the production of cars and computers. A very useful product, Styrofoam also causes a plethora of environmental hazards.

Air Pollution
- While polystyrene no longer contains harmful chlorofluorocarbons, which studies show deplete the ozone layer, manufacturers have replaced the presence of CFCs with HCFCs, according to the Earth Resource Foundation. Although HCFCs have proven less destructive to the ozone than CFCs, they are still considered a greenhouse gas and affect the ozone. Along with the HCFCs, the process of creating polystyrene causes air pollution and results in large quantities of liquid and solid waste.
Non-Biodegradable
- In 2006, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States threw away 1,460,000 tons of polystyrene products, much of which ends up in landfills. The lifespan of polystyrene ranges from decades to centuries to break down. Rather than biodegrading, it slowly dissolves through photo-degradation, according to King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. The process of photo-degradation works as sunlight breaks polystyrene down into smaller and smaller pieces. However, as sunlight does not usually infiltrate landfills, much of polystyrene waste will never break down.
  
  In addition to its lack of ability to biodegrade, Styrofoam does not recycle easily or cheaply. Recycling Styrofoam costs around $3,000 a ton, writes Environment California, and in the United States less than 1 percent of Styrofoam actually gets recycled. Since Styrofoam often gets used as food containers, greasy residues and other contaminants render a significant portion unrecyclable.
Water Hazards
- Thanks to its makeup of 95 percent air, polystyrene supports a prevalence for getting blown about and floating. Thus, Styrofoam waste that does not end up in landfills or recycle centers litters the earth's surface, eventually making its way to water sources. Indeed, the majority of marine debris consists of plastics from urban run-off.
  
  In the North Pacific Ocean lies an area the size of an entire continent, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In this area, waste congregates in a ratio of almost 7 pounds of plastic per pound of plankton (Environment California). As the Styrofoam pollutes the ocean as it leaches toxins like styrene, fish and other marine life mistake polystyrene pieces as food and ingest it, detrimentally affecting the aquatic food chain.

Nature