Green Care

Most paper foodservice products
are coated with polyethylene
plastic, wax, or other non-
biodegradable materials and
are, therefore, essentially no
more degradable than foam.
Polystyrene foam, like most plastics,
does not biodegrade.
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The lack of
biodegradation may be a positive
feature of plastics, according to
archaeologist Dr. William L. Rathje,
professor emeritus of anthropology
at the University of Arizona and one
of the nation’s foremost authorities
on solid waste and landfills. “The
fact that plastic does not biodegrade,
which is often cited as one of its
great defects, may actually be one
of its great virtues,” Dr. Rathje has
written.
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In fact, biodegradation
can lead to the release of harmful
methane gas or leachate, which
can contaminate groundwater.
3
The manufacture of polystyrene
foam hot beverage cups
requires less energy than the
manufacture of comparable
plastic-coated paperboard hot
cups with sleeves, and the
manufacturing of polystyrene
foam cold beverage cups
requires less energy than the
manufacture of representative-
weight wax-coated
paperboard cold cups.
An average-weight polystyrene foam
hot beverage cup requires about one
third less total energy to produce
than an average-weight polyethylene
(PE) plastic-coated paperboard hot
cup with a corrugated cup sleeve.
4
An average-weight polystyrene
foam cold beverage cup
requires approximately half as
much total energy to produce
than a representative-weight
wax-coated paperboard cup.
5
Plastic-coated paperboard
cups don’t insulate as
efciently as foam cups.
Plastic-coated paper cup users
frequently use two cups together
for hot beverages to protect their
hands. This “double cupping” of an
average-weight polyethylene (PE)
plastic-coated paperboard cup results
in over twice as much total energy use
and total solid waste by volume, and
over five times as much total solid
waste by weight, as the use of a single
average-weight polystyrene foam cup.
6
The manufacture of Dart
polystyrene foam products does
not deplete the ozone layer.
Dart polystyrene foam products are not
manufactured with chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) or any other ozone-depleting
chemicals. Moreover, Dart Container
Corporation never used CFCs in
the manufacture of foam cups.
Those foodservice manufacturers
of polystyrene foam that employed
CFCs in their manufacturing processes
ceased using them by 1990.
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Polystyrene foam can
be recycled as part of an
integrated solid waste
management strategy.
8
Paper foodservice disposables, on
the other hand, are rarely recycled.
To assist in improving polystyrene
recycling rates, Dart Container
Corporation established several
polystyrene foam recycling facilities
in the US and one in Canada. For
information on any polystyrene
recycling programs that may be
available in your area, please
visit the Environment section
of our website at www.dart.biz
or call 1-800-288-CARE.
Environmental Facts about Dart Foam Products
Polystyrene foam is composed
of carbon and hydrogen. When
properly incinerated polystyrene
foam leaves only carbon dioxide,
water, and trace amounts of ash.
9
In modern waste-to-energy
incinerators, the energy generated
by the incineration of polystyrene
foam cups and other solid waste
can provide heat and light for
neighboring communities.
10
Polystyrene foam foodservice
products do not “clog” landlls.
Polystyrene foam foodservice
products constitute less than 1 percent,
by both weight and volume, of our
country’s municipal solid waste.
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For additional
environmental
information,
visit our
website at
www.dart.biz
For additional environmental information, visit our website at www.dart.biz
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