1. Is PS clogging our landfills?
2. What are my options for disposing of my PS?
3. Is PS recyclable? In my area?
4. How much post-consumer PS is currently recycled?
5. What products are made with recycled PS?
6. Is PS being recycled in other parts of the world?
7. What is the PS industry going to do to increase its recycling rates? Why isn't the PS industry supporting new recycling programs?
8. How is solid waste currently managed in the US?
9. Since recent EPA MSW studies show landfill capacity is high and waste-to-energy capacity is high, why is there still such a push to recycle PS, which can be safely landfilled and burned?
10. I've heard about alternative technologies to recycle PS by dissolving it in a citrus-based solvent. What is the status of this technology? Is it available? How much does it cost? Why isn't the industry promoting it more?
11. How long does it take for PS to biodegrade?
12. How do PS source reduction/waste reduction activities compare to PS recycling activities?
13. PS damages the ozone - isn't PS made with CFCs?
14. Isn't pentane, the blowing agent commonly used to make PS foam food service products and protective shape molding, a health hazard? Doesn't pentane contribute to photochemical smog? Are there substitutes for pentane that are friendlier to the environment and if so, why doesn't the PS industry switch?
15. Doesn't PS produce toxic chemicals when it's incinerated?
16. How much hazardous waste is produced when PS is manufactured?
17. What is the industry doing to combat litter? Isn't most litter PS stuff?
18. How much energy is used to make PS and what impact does it have on our non-renewable petroleum feedstock reserves?
19. What impact, if any, will global warming regulations have on the PS industry?
20. How does PS measure up to competing materials like paper and reusables?
21. I understand technology allows some plastics to be made of degradable resins - what applications for degradable PS resins/products exist today?
1. Is PS clogging our landfills?
PS is not clogging our landfills. All PS packaging (food service, protective packaging, etc.) comprises only a tiny fraction of the material that goes into our landfills. In fact, less than one percent by weight of the total municipal solid waste disposed is PS. Paper and paperboard products make up the largest category of material disposed in our landfills (about 31 percent), followed by food (almost 15 percent).
2. What are my options for disposing of my PS?
Options to safely and efficiently dispose of PS are the same as those for other municipally generated wastes. This includes the integrated solid waste management system advocated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): source reduction, reuse, recycling, waste combustion (preferably with energy recovery), and landfilling. (Refer to questions 10 & 11)
3. Is PS recyclable? In my area?
PS can be recycled in those areas where programs exist. In the past, due to more favorable economic conditions, more recycling programs existed for post-consumer PS than are in place today. However, PS recycling - generally for transport/protective packaging and non-packaging, non-durable PS materials - remains available in a select number of locations in North America. Office supplies, videocassette casings, transport packaging, egg cartons, and lunch trays are some of the products that have been made from recycled PS. It is important to remember that most paper-based food service products are coated with materials, such as wax or polyethylene, that render them difficult, if not impossible, to recycle.
4. How much post-consumer PS is currently recycled?
The latest figures available are for the 2001 calendar year. In 2001, 55.3 million total pounds of PS packaging were recycled. This is an increase of 5.7 percent over 2000's total of 52.3 million pounds. The breakout of the total by PS packaging type is as follows: Protective Packaging - 25.2 million pounds; Food Service Products - 0.2. million pounds; Other PS Applications (non-packaging non-durables) - 29.7 million pounds, and; Bottles and Containers - 0.2 million pounds.
5. What products are made with recycled PS?
There are many products made from recycled PS, including egg cartons, lunch trays, transport packaging, audio and videocassette casings, building supplies, and office supplies. For more information on products made from recycled plastic, contact us.
6. Is PS being recycled in other parts of the world?
PFPG primarily tracks and monitors recycling in the US. PFPG lacks full knowledge of the status of PS recycling in every area of the world. PFPG is aware that PS recycling is taking place in Canada, Europe and Asia.
7. What is the PS industry going to do to increase its recycling rates? Why isn't the PS industry supporting new recycling programs?
The PS industry will continue to promote recycling only where it makes economic and environmental sense. Recycling is one of several options for disposing of products and is just one aspect of a larger, complex, interrelated issue. For recycling to be successful, it must be cost effective. It should be noted that recycling has not occurred at the point an item is put in a recycling bin. For recycling to occur, consumers must demand and purchase products made from recycled materials. This is true for PS recycling. Recycling of PS will increase when consumer demand for products made with recycled PS increases.
8. How is solid waste currently managed in the US?
According to the latest EPA figures, about 28 percent of all solid waste, including PS packaging, is recycled or composted, 55 percent is landfilled, and 17 percent is incinerated. Recycling programs for materials that can be recycled cost effectively - corrugated cardboard, newspapers, aluminum cans, etc. are well established. The economics of recycling, landfilling, and waste-to-energy incineration are local issues - and are decided on a local and regional basis. Many smaller, older landfills in the US have closed over the last decade, primarily due to the high cost of complying with strict federal environmental regulations. However, in many areas of the country, the amount of disposal capacity has actually increased with the emergence of large "mega" landfills that can economically comply with federal regulations.
9. Since recent EPA MSW studies show landfill capacity is high and waste-to-energy capacity is high, why is there still such a push to recycle PS, which can be safely landfilled and burned?
Recycling is viewed by much of the public as primarily a social issue, and few people outside the recycling and solid waste management field examine it from an economic and resource utilization perspective. The public's perceived value of recycling, rather than the true value in terms of total environmental benefits, is often what drives recycling efforts.
10. I've heard about alternative technologies to recycle PS by dissolving it in a citrus-based solvent. What is the status of this technology? Is it available? How much does it cost? Why isn't the industry promoting it more?
A method of PS source reduction is the process of de-gasification of PS. In this process, a solution is applied to foamed PS that de-gasifies the material and densifies it into a gel-like substance. The goal is to further process this gel by removing the dissolving solution and recovering the polystyrene. The solutions currently being worked with are both citrus-based and non-citrus-based.
Although de-gasification technology has been known for decades, this process has not, as yet, been successfully commercialized to recycle polystyrene into new products. There are several firms currently attempting to reach this goal, but so far, only the densification portion of this process has been commercially established. Also, although no publicly accessible economic information is available, many industry observers have estimated that at this time the full cost of the recycled PS will exceed the cost of virgin PS. This technology will continue to be monitored as technical and cost information emerges and the marketplace has an opportunity to prove its long-term viability.
11. How long does it take for PS to biodegrade?
Designing packaging materials to degrade, either through biodegradation (the breaking down and consumption of materials by naturally occurring microorganisms) or photodegradation (the breaking down of materials from sunlight), is not currently a viable option to manage solid waste in the US, but is a supplementary one at best. While degradable materials may not be intended to end up in landfills or incinerators, the reality is that the majority of MSW in the US, including degradables, is disposed of in landfills (55 percent) or is incinerated (17 percent), places where degradation does not occur.
A very common misconception is that materials biodegrade in a meaningful timeframe in today's landfills. It is often mistakenly thought that landfills are vast composters, when in reality, they are vast mummifiers of waste. Very little of the waste discarded in today's modern, highly engineered landfills, including paper, plastic, and even food, biodegrades - and it's not supposed to. Because degradation of materials can create potentially harmful liquid and gaseous byproducts that could contaminate groundwater and air, today's landfills are designed to minimize contact with air and water required for degradation to occur, thereby practically eliminating the degradation of waste.
12. How do PS source reduction/waste reduction activities compare to PS recycling activities?
In 1997, total waste diversion of PS packaging and disposables was 15.7 percent of generation. Between 1974 and 1997, the amount of PS packaging and disposals diverted through source reduction alone increased more than 40-fold, eliminating more than 2,900 billion pounds of material. Source reduction can make a positive contribution toward conserving resources - as significant as recycling.
One way to evaluate the impact of source reduction is to compare the resources saved by preventing waste versus recycling. The amount of PS material sourced reduced in 1997 has an energy savings equivalent to having recycled 51 percent of the PS packaging and disposables produced in 1997.
13. PS damages the ozone - isn't PS made with CFCs?
No chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are currently used in the domestic manufacture of PS packaging products and haven't been since 1990. Most (about 70 percent) PS foam products never were made with CFCs. Those few that did use CFCs comprised a very small portion of US CFC use. In fact, the EPA says that only two to three percent of CFCs used in the US went toward production of PS packaging products. By 1990, those few PS manufacturers that did use them voluntary phased out the use of CFCs.
14. Isn't pentane, the blowing agent commonly used to make PS foam food service products and protective shape molding, a health hazard? Doesn't pentane contribute to photochemical smog? Are there substitutes for pentane that are friendlier to the environment and if so, why doesn't the PS industry switch?
Pentane itself is not a health hazard, nor is it a significant contributor to smog, and has no effect on the upper stratospheric ozone layer. Technology has been introduced which recycles the pentane and uses it as a fuel within the plant. Where smog formation is a concern, manufacturers use state-of-the-art technology to capture pentane emissions.
15. Doesn't PS produce toxic chemicals when it's incinerated?
All carbonaceous materials (wood, paper, charcoal, plastic, etc.) create noxious fumes when burned in uncontrolled situations. However, all of these materials, including PS, can be safely incinerated in a modern combustion facility. Incineration converts PS to carbon dioxide, water vapor, and a very small amount of nontoxic ash. Also, Incineration of PS generates large quantities of usable energy -- approximately 16,000 BTUs/pound, which is twice that of coal.
16. How much hazardous waste is produced when PS is manufactured?
PS is an inert substance. In addition, the production aids used to make food service PS packaging are few in number and pose no known threat to human health or the environment. All additives to food service PS are used in compliance with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Production processes contain numerous emission control devices that capture and reduce emissions. Examples of the small amount of hazardous waste generated are solvents and inks from printing on finished PS products (industry uses water based and high solids inks), and any spills of intermediate chemicals that might be used to make PS in polymer plants.
17. What is the industry doing to combat litter? Isn't most litter PS stuff?
A widely held misconception is that litter is a problem caused by specific materials themselves rather than aberrant consumer behavior. The unfortunate reality is that some people improperly dispose of materials by littering. Littering is a matter of behavior; people who improperly discard materials into the environment usually do so because they don't think or don't care. Attributing the litter issue to one particular packaging material does not solve the problem because another type of packaging will take its place as litter unless behavior changes.
The use of information and education to change behavior is the best method to reduce litter. To address litter concerns effectively, the PS industry cares about the environment and supports organizations such as Keep America Beautiful, that work to reduce litter across the country.
18. How much energy is used to make PS and what impact does it have on our non-renewable petroleum feedstock reserves?
The manufacture of all plastics consumed approximately three percent of the total petroleum used in the US in 1997, and PS production comprised approximately .002 percent of that amount. Comparatively, 71 percent of total petroleum used in the US is used for gasoline, jet, and diesel fuel, and 26 percent for the production of asphalt, oils and lubricants.
19. What impact, if any, will global warming regulations have on the PS industry?
Global warming regulations should have minimal direct impact on the PS industry. The primary pollutants that contribute to global warming come from industry segments other than the plastics industry such as the oil industry (refineries) and the automotive industry (hydrocarbon emissions from cars). There are few greenhouse gas emissions generated by the PS industry, and PS product manufacturers have phased out the use of CFCs as blowing agents. Indirectly, increased global warming regulations will cause PS manufacturers to incur higher electricity costs for manufacturing as well as higher fuel costs for transportation.
20. How does PS measure up to competing materials like paper and reusables?
Life cycle analysis (LCA), or a "cradle-to-grave" study, has been conducted comparing PS to its paperboard and reusable alternatives, particularly in packaging applications. These studies include all processes from raw material acquisition, to ultimate disposal of the product. In most cases, PS compares favorably from an overall energy and environmental emissions standpoint when compared to its alternate material counterparts. All products have environmental and energy burdens associated with the use of raw materials and conversion into products. Several LCA studies conducted in the US and Europe confirm the environmental acceptability of PS.
21. I understand technology allows some plastics to be made of degradable resins - what applications for degradable PS resins/products exist today?
There are currently no applications for degradable PS resins. Degradable plastics are primarily used where applications require this feature -- such as sutures, or agricultural mulch film designed to break down once buried under the soil. The FDA has not been asked to, and therefore has not yet approved, the use of degradable plastics for food service products.
