Saying goodbye to polystyrene packaging

(Note: in the USA and Canada, “styrofoam” is commonly used for “expanded” polystyrene foam, EPS, rather than the correct use of the trademarked term “Styrofoam” which is actually a different material called “extruded” polystyrene, XPS).

Expanded polystyrene foams are widely used in food containers, coffee cups, crafts, models, stage decoration and general packaging cushioning as solid blocks or loose-fill peanuts. The first commercial usages go back to the early 1960s.

Unfortunately the millions of tons produced each year biodegrade only on the timescale of centuries, and are often not collected in curbside collection programmes due to the low density making collection uneconomical.

The net effect of the lack of natural biodegradability is to cause pollution of the ocean and damage to wildlife. As a result, some countries and, in the US, several cities, have banned polystyrene foam in the catering trade.

As with many “single use” end-consumer products, the difficulty of organising collection of the used material means that eco-conscious companies should switch away from materials like EPS.

For other non-consumer use cases where EPS collection can be more guaranteed, the EPS can be recycled by compaction to bricks and specialist companies can be found for this purpose.

Alternatives to Polystyrene

Commonly used eco-packaging materials for catering purposes:

• Sugarcane Bagasse
• PLA (Polyactic acid)
• Paper/card from sustainable sources
• Areca Palm leaves
• Plant-based Mater-Bi film

Cost comparisons of eco packaging with traditional polystyrene/plastic

At the time of writing I looked at some online vendors to get an idea of price differentials between eco-conscious materials and non-biodegradable traditional products.

Example vendors used for pricing research (prices fetched May 2020):

• https://www.vegware.com/ – sells eco packaging
• https://www.greenmanpackaging.com/ – sells eco packaging
• https://www.cater4you.co.uk/ – sells mix of eco & non-eco packaging

Price example comparisons:

Product	Eco-friendly option	Non-eco option
Clear 300ml drinking cups	Compostable PLA 6p	Plastic equivalent 2p
Clamshell boxes	Sugarcane 8p	Polystyrene equivalent 5p
Plates	Palm leaf 30p	Polystyrene equivalent 6p
240L large bin liners	Compostable Mater-Bi 50p	Plastic equivalent 14p
Cutlery	RCPLA or wooden 3p	Plastic equivalent 3p

The primary recommendation when it comes to sustainability is of course to avoid using disposable products in the first place!

But if it’s really required, finding eco alternatives is now easy and often no more expensive. Certainly when it comes to many types of product like cutlery there is absolutely no reason all companies shouldn’t already be using sustainable products as the financial cost is no higher.