Recycling of steel or aluminum cans, glass jars and bottles, and various paper products became established relatively quickly. It is harder to recycle plastic, and consumers are used to looking for a number within the recycling logo. Many municipalities accept only numbers 1 and 2. Styrofoam, Dow's trademarked name for polystyrene, number 6, has until recently not been recyclable at all.
That has been a real environmental problem, especially for coffee cups and various food containers made of Styrofoam. Too many people toss trash out of their car windows. Styrofoam, being very lightweight, does not stay put. If no one picks it up, it will eventually be lifted by rainwater and make its way to streams, rivers, and ultimately out to sea. There are some huge garbage patches out in the middle of the ocean, and whether on land or sea, animals can eat it. They can't digest it, so it blocks their digestive tract. They starve to death.
Recently, some companies have figured out how to recycle it. A company in North Carolina makes it into picture frames. It apparently has no web site, so the link is to a TV news story. I found a web site for another company in Washington. Both of them (and certainly some others around the country) rely on industrial waste rather than curbside recycling for their supply of Styrofoam. These companies therefore do not represent a solution to Styrofoam' environmental problems, but at least they are a step in the right direction.
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