1 post tagged “save styrafoam from landfills”

I canNOT believe my ears! I just found out that styrafoam CAN be recycled, and here's how:

Styrofoam: Interestingly enough, it seems there’s always a way to bring everything back to nature: bacteria appear to be the answer to recycling polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam. Over 14 million metric tons of Styrofoam is produced annually, most of which previously ended up in landfills due to the lack of an efficient system for recycling it.

In 2006, scientists at the University College Dublin found a bacterium that eats polystyrene foam and turns it into a useable plastic. The foam first must be heated without the presence of oxygen and converted into styrene oil. Then, it is fed to the bacteria who convert it into PHA, a biodegradable plastic. Like most plastics, PHA is resistant to oil, heat and grease and lasts a long time. It can be used to create packaging film and plastic forks. Unlike polystyrene foam, it is able to biodegrade in water and soil.

This fabulous news was just offered up by our friends over at Earth911, via www.msn.com found here: http://green.msn.com/Home/you-can-recycle-that/?gt1=45002

I have not yet found out whether or not there's a way to begin collecting and sending styrafoam to a site that will recycle the styrafoam. But stay tuned!