How does Styrofoam Recycling prevent us from ingesting plastic particles?

In 1950, the global output of plastics was 2 million tons and then increased year by year. Now plastics have become the man-made material with the highest output. Since the birth of plastics, about 10 billion tons of various plastic products have been produced by humans. Approximately 8 million tons of plastic flow into the ocean every year. If it is not contained, the weight of plastic will exceed that of fish by 2050.

One truckload of plastic garbage is added to the ocean every minute

Of these huge waste plastic products, only 9% are recycled, another 12% are incinerated, and the remaining 79% are buried deep or simply abandoned into ecosystems such as rivers, oceans, forests, and farmland. In 2010 alone, 4.8 to 12.7 million tons of plastic waste flowed into the ocean, which is equivalent to a truckload of plastic waste dumped into the ocean every minute.

The plastic products we throw away at will become a weapon to strangle other living beings. However, the plastic garbage visible to the naked eye is not the most terrifying, and the greater crisis is invisible to human beings. In 2004, British scientific scientists confirmed the existence of microplastic particles for the first time through research, which is a kind of plastic garbage invisible to the naked eye. It is not directly produced by humans, but all kinds of plastic garbage discarded by humans will eventually become plastic particles over time and the washing of seawater.

According to statistics, there are currently at least 525 million plastic fragments in the ocean, with a total weight of 269,000 tons. Fish and marine organisms eat these plastic particles and are salvaged ashore and served on a beautiful table. When humans eat fish, they also eat the plastic particles into their bodies.

Microplastics are invading the world

The University of Newcastle in Australia has synthesized 52 research data to estimate the global per capita plastic intake, and the result is a warning to people: the average person in the world ingests about 2,000 plastic particles every week, weighing 5g of plastic, roughly equivalent to the weight of a credit card.

If you think that you can avoid the erosion of microplastics just by not eating seafood, then it is probably wishful thinking. Plastic particles have already invaded the world. In more than 10 countries around the world, 83% of tap water is contaminated by plastic fibers; in 9 countries around the world, 93% of bottled water samples contain microplastics. Maybe you haven't realized it yet, but we have nowhere to escape in the face of these plastic wastes, and waiting to die is by no means the best choice. There is still much we can do. For example, do a good job of sorting and recycling garbage, try to avoid buying over-packaged goods, and reuse plastic products, etc.

How does styrofoam recycling help

Styrofoam, as one type of plastic with a symbol of #6, is currently one of the most widely used foamed plastics in the world, including fast food packaging boxes, express fragile packaging material, insulation boards for construction, etc. Usually, the fate of these styrofoam products after one-time use is to be randomly discarded or landfilled and incinerated as mentioned above. However, seeing the shocking and disastrous consequences above, we can't help thinking about whether there is a better way to deal with them. The answer is styrofoam recycling and reusing.

If you know that styrofoam is made up of 98% air, then you will not doubt the fact that styrofoam is 100% recyclable. As long as the air in the styrofoam is squeezed out by a professional recycling machine, it will become dense styrofoam blocks and further processed into PS particles to make various new products such as decorative photo frames and picture frames for furniture.

Recycle the waste styrofoam for your health

Each of us is a part of our living environment and is responsible for it, and just a small change in habit may make a big improvement. Tell your friends not to throw away the styrofoam courier boxes produced by online shopping, and pick up the white styrofoam waste foam in your community, put it in a recyclable trash can to prevent it from being blown away by the wind, or being eaten by a bird on the beach five kilometers away, or entering the belly of marine life, and eventually turning into plastic particles and returning to our bodies.