Goal For The Green

by Zeke Iddon

Styrofoam: The Pollutant People Forget About

It’s no surprise that our industrialized world has a problem with waste, but the scope of the issue can be mind-boggling to conceive. The U.S. alone is responsible for generating 200 billion tons of garbage every year, and an overwhelming amount of that is non-biodegradable waste that lingers in landfills or escapes into the world’s oceans. Plastic products are a major culprit, with Styrofoam leading the pack.

An amazing 25 billion Styrofoam cups are thrown away each year in the U.S.; once you add in egg crates, packaging peanuts, take-out containers, meat trays and other products, the number of Styrofoam products in landfills climbs even more.

What exactly is Styrofoam?

Most people are familiar with Styrofoam, the most common brand name for polystyrene foam. This lightweight foam is made from long chains of hydrocarbons. These are obtained through the polymerization of petroleum, which converts the fossil fuel into foam. The end result is a lightweight product with a low melting point but excellent insulating qualities, which is why it’s so popular in food packaging.

Aside from the polystyrene products that are thrown away by consumers, the production of polystyrene generates a substantial amount of waste as well. Altogether, the process creates 57 different chemicals, including liquids and gases, and many of these byproducts can cause health concerns among those in direct contact with them.

The Polystyrene Menace

Aside from the chemical waste created by manufacturing Styrofoam, the greatest problem with polystyrene is that it lasts essentially forever. In 500 years, the discarded cups and take-out containers thrown out today will still be sitting in landfills, essentially unchanged. This is because the polymerized styrene is resistant to photolysis, or the natural breaking down of a substance subjected to protons from a light source. In other words, while some objects degrade in the sun, petroleum-based plastics and foams do not.

Polystyrene is especially problematic because it’s lightweight. This increases its chances of blowing away from landfills or trash cans and finding its way into rivers, lakes and oceans. Once in the water, the polystyrene does indeed break down. In the process, it releases chemicals like bisphenol A into the water.

The Styrofoam itself also poses a threat to the environment. Marine wildlife often mistake plastic products for food, leading them to choke on bits of Styrofoam or die of starvation after obstructing their digestive tracts.

Taking Control of Waste

The risks of polystyrene production and disposal are becoming well-known, and many solutions have been offered to deal with the problem:

– An ingenious process perfected by the minds behind Poly2Petrol.com allows petroleum-based plastics, including polystyrene, to be broken down and converted back into oil. This oil can then be burned as fuel, reducing the overall demand for newly drilled oil while cutting down the amount of plastic waste. The project is still in its early stages, but as it catches on, this has the potentially to dramatically reduce the amount of petroleum waste entering the ecosystem.

– Some polystyrene products can be recycled. Recycling polystyrene is resource-intensive, however, and many community recycling initiatives are not equipped to handle these products. Only hard polystyrene, such as the kind used for packaging inserts, can be recycled. Any polystyrene that has been used to hold food cannot be recycled.

– Some polystyrene products can be reused. One example is packaging peanuts, which can generally be returned to a shipping company for additional uses. This is an imperfect solution as it can be inconvenient for the consumer, and it still does not solve the issue of food packaging and other polystyrene products, but it does offer slight relief to the overall problem.

– As more people become aware of the problems caused by plastic waste, they’re demanding alternative packaging. This is great news for both landfills and the limited oil reserves throughout the world. New technologies are developing biodegradable food packaging, and more people are opting to buy in bulk or reduce waste by using reusable items instead of disposable ones.

Ultimately, the solution to the plastic waste problem will be a multi-pronged approach combining recycling, fresh technology and public awareness. Only by educating people on the dangers of Styrofoam and similar products can we hope to achieve relief from the choking presence of non-biodegradable waste in our landfills and oceans.

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Photo by Jyle Dupuis via Flickr

What is old to some can be new for others when it comes to hybrid vehicles. According to the New York Times, an estimated 415,000 used hybrids were on the market this past May, with some used Toyota Prius models listed as low as $15,000. Similar hybrid models remain competitively priced today, as a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid was recently listed for $15,495 on the used car dealership website Drive Time. However, buyers willing to spend more to own the newest models not only get the full life of a manufacturer’s warranty but they may also be eligible for the federal Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit as well as other state tax credits, as the IRS notes.

Photo by motorblog via Flickr

Whether you buy a used or new model, there are certainly advantages that come with owning a hybrid vehicle—namely the improved gas mileage that will save you money by spending less time at the pump. According to the Huffington Post, hybrid car sales rose about 73 percent from 2011 to 2012 to an estimated 440,000 units. If you do decide to look for a used hybrid vehicle, there are a few things that you will want to keep in mind during your search.

As the automotive website Edmunds.com noted, “the first and most important step a prospective buyer should take” is to conduct a thorough check of the used hybrid’s service record. As hybrid vehicle specialist Carolyn Coquilette told Edmunds, the fact that hybrids are largely computer-controlled is good because it generally means you’re not going to have the same concerns about prior driving abuse you would have with other cars. Instead, one concern for hybrid buyers has more to do with the specialized batteries.

The April 2013 issue of Consumer Reports reported that nearly 20 percent of 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid owners required a battery replacement over a 12-month survey period. Additionally, the replacement rate was more than 10 percent for 2003, 2004 and 2010 Civic Hybrid models. Because hybrid batteries can range between $2,000 and $4,000 to replace, that is an understandable concern for potential buyers.

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However, the Times noted that federal regulations require all hybrids to carry a minimum of a 100,000-mile, eight-year battery warranty, and some tests have shown that hybrid batteries can last much longer. John O’Dell, a senior editor at Edmunds, told the Times that battery life shouldn’t be a concern if a car is less than five years old and has fewer than 100,000 miles. Additionally, two executives at top automotive battery companies told the Wall Street Journal that the cost of lithium-ion batteries used in electric and hybrid vehicles will likely be about half of today’s price by 2020.

Another important step in looking for a used hybrid vehicle is to have an independent inspection performed by a trained hybrid mechanic. While many locations will typically have signage letting you know that they employ such trained mechanics, some dealerships do not always have certified mechanics. If you are unsure where to find qualified technicians in your area, the Auto Career Development Center lists such locations.

Photo by jurvetson via Flickr

Price can understandably be the major sticking point for those torn between buying new or used, but it should be noted that David Wurster, president of automotive research company Vincentric, told Forbes that while most hybrids have higher depreciation costs than non-hybrids, about half the hybrids his company analyzed in November 2012 had lower depreciation rates than the non-hybrids. Prospective buyers should also learn about the potential incentives their state offers—many of which are tax credits worth thousands of dollars.