1. What about foam litter?

We all know that litter is just plain bad. What many people, however, are unwilling to admit, is that litter is a “people issue” not a product issue.




The only true solution to litter is to change the behavior of those who litter and enforce the laws that prohibit this behavior. According to Keep America Beautiful (KAB), “Laws and ordinances that improve a community’s quality of life are ineffective unless they’re enforced. Enforcement is not only the role of the police department.

It is most effective when police work in partnership with the community and its citizens, local public agencies and the courts.” The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) has many resources available for the anti-litter efforts in your community. Keep America Beautiful, at its website, www.kab.org, offers a program to aid communities in assessing litter problems, addressing the issue, and measuring results.

Dart Container Corporation and others in plastics manufacturing are signatories to a voluntary “best practices” industry program, Operation Clean Sweep (OCS).



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2. What about disposal and landfill issues?

MSW 2010 Rev. Factsheet

Compared with many other materials, polystyrene comprises a small percentage of both the total municipal solid waste (MSW) generated and disposed. In fact, all polystyrene plastic products represent less than 1% of all products generated, by weight, in municipal solid waste. The polystyrene foodservice category includes items such as cups, plates, bowls, trays, clamshells, meat trays, egg cartons, yogurt and cottage cheese containers, and cutlery.


Contrary to popular public belief, waste materials do not readily biodegrade in modern landfills. Today’s modern MSW landfills are not like compost piles, where the purpose is to bury trash in such a way that it will decompose quickly. Today’s modern MSW landfills are designed to discourage biodegradation by isolating the waste from oxygen, sunlight, and water.


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3. Are foam products biodegradable?

Engineers design modern landfills to discourage biodegradation by removing oxygen, sunlight, and water.

Ironically, one beneficial feature of polystyrene foam is that it does not biodegrade significantly. Because biodegradation can lead to the release of harmful methane gas or leachate, which can contaminate groundwater, it is preferable to place non-biodegradable rather than biodegradable products in landfills.

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4. Can polystyrene foam products be recycled?




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5. Where can I recycle my foam cups and containers?








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6. Why choose foam products instead of paper?

foam paper cup waste comparison

Foam insulates better than paper. Paper cup users frequently use two cups together for hot beverages to protect their hands, or wrap layers of paper napkins around the cup. “Double cupping” an average-weight polyethylene (PE) plastic-coated paperboard cup results in over twice as much energy use and solid waste by volume, over five times as much solid waste by weight, and nearly twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as the use of a single average- weight polystyrene cup.

Professor Martin Hocking, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, has performed a study of foam and paper single service products. The results of his study were summarized succinctly in a Wall Street Journal article in 1991: “[Hocking’s] analysis…finds that the environmental impact from the chemicals and energy used in making paper cups, as well as the emissions from incinerating or burying paper cups, exceeds the impact of making and disposing of cups made of plastic foam.”

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7. How are foam foodservice products made?




1. Steam chest molding of expandable polystyrene (EPS).
2. Extrusion of polymer followed by thermoforming to achieve a final product.

Steam Chest Molding



There are three classes of product in this second category:

  2. Oriented Polystyrene (OPS) — General Purpose (GP) polystyrene is extruded into a sheet that passes through an orienting device, which stretches or “orients” the sheet to achieve strength. This oriented sheet is then thermoformed into a final product. The strength and clarity of OPS products is useful for packaging such items as baked goods, salads, and “deli” products. Our customers value the superior clarity of Dart’s OPS products.

Blowing Agents


The most common blowing agents today are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as pentane. Unlike CFCs, pentane does not affect the upper ozone layer, but does contribute to impurities in the lower level of the atmosphere. State and federal authorities, through laws and regulations, limit the amount of VOC emissions allowed, depending on regional air quality issues. To meet the permitted limits of these regulations, many manufacturers use state-of-the-art technology to reduce pentane emissions. Whenever possible, Dart uses such technology to capture and destroy VOCs, and, where technically feasible, to capture and reuse pentane.

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[i] Judd H. Alexander, In Defense of Garbage [Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1993] 55

8. Can foam products be used in a microwave oven?

Proper use of Dart polystyrene plastic cups or containers in a microwave oven is fine, as long as they are not overheated. The performance of Dart products in a microwave, however, may vary depending upon the type of food being heated, the length of heating time, and the intensity of the microwave oven.

Typically, microwaves act to heat the water within a food or beverage. This heat is then transferred to the entire food or beverage contents. Since polystyrene cups or containers themselves do not contain water within their molecular structure, they are unaffected by the microwaves. If the container’s temperature changes, it is only because of the increasing heat of the liquid or solid they contain. Be aware that food with a high sugar or fat content (or both) can raise the boiling temperature to over the normal 212 degrees Fahrenheit. If cooked or heated too long, some foods can soften the container, leading to a mess in the microwave oven and danger of burns from hot food or liquid. Periodic checking on food or beverages during the reheating process is recommended to prevent damage to the container.

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