Finally Something To Do With All That Styrofoam?
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 03. 8.06
This LiveScience.com article starts with a joke better left to the Reader's Digest people, but the substance of the piece is quite interesting. "Kevin O’Connor of University College Dublin and his colleagues heated polystyrene foam, the generic name for Styrofoam, to convert it to styrene oil. [...] the scientists fed this styrene oil to the soil bacteria Pseudomonas putida, which converted it into biodegradable plastic known as PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates)." It's about time because 2.3 million tons of polystyrene foam (styrofoam) are dumped in US landfills each year, and over 14 million metric tons of the stuff are produced annually around the world. Since the foam is very light (95% air), 14 million tons takes up lots of volume.
According to the Polystyrene Packaging Council’s website (who knew such an organization existed?), it is currently not economical to recycled styrofoam because "the resulting product is a lower grade styrene that is not a reasonable substitute for freshly produced polystyrene." That's the beauty of the new recycling-with-bacteria process: It adds value. "Now you are taking a non-recyclable product and making it into a recyclable, biodegradable product with alternative uses, like biomedical applications.”
"The process will be detailed in the April 1 issue of the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology."
Hallelujah!
::Immortal Styrofoam Meets its Enemy, via ::Digg, ::Soil Bacteria Can Biodegrade Styrofoam, ::Solving The Styrofoam Situation, ::Polystyrene Packaging Council
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I have 800 styrofoam cups from temporary sculpture I did a few months ago... they're sitting in a bag in my basement... every time I use a new cup I feel this intense guilt
Ah yes, I see two pictures of it in your flickr album. Hopefully it won't take too long for this new recycling technology to spread.
There is more than just styrene polymer in the end use product. Catalysts, reaction promoters, and processing aids. Anyone ever wonder what the bubbles come from that make it foam? Formerly was a hydrofluorocarbon, but there is a change to pentane blends, C02, or other volatiles.
" heated polystyrene foam, the generic name for Styrofoam, to convert it to styrene oil. [...]"
How about SUPERHEATED to create a toxic goo? It's not just some oil...
http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7478
Excellent news! I only hope this technology will soon be available around the world (especially since fastfood places where I live still use quite a lot of Styrofoam containers).
That's really great news! Let us hope that the costs of conversion are feasible.
"The process will be detailed in the April 1 issue of the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology."
Am I paranoia or is this an april fools joke?
I'm pretty certain that the April 1st date is only because the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology comes out on the first day of the month, not because it's a joke.
I did a double-take on the date too, though.
There is a company in Rogers Arkansas called Advanced Enviromental technologies that is recycling styrofoam using some kind of bio-based technology.
I recently read about "international foam solutions" which essentailly crushes styrofoam and turns it into a gel for transport and recycling. Looks like it's really only best for schools and colleges though.
If you are located in the Dallas / Ft Worth metroplex, you can drop off your clean styrofoam at our location.
Styrofoam bothers me. I clean a stream in Charlotte, North Carolina for Storm Water Services. Styrofoam lands up in our water supply all the time. I pull this stuff out of the stream every 6 months. What happens over time is the white Styrofoam made from little white balls falls apart and lands up in the water supply. The United States needs to ban Styrofoam or recycle it in all our states. Charlotte should take the lead and ban Styrofoam or start to recycle it.
Is there a location in Memphis,Tn to recycle my Styrofoam.
Thank you