Polystyrene products are widely used as packing material to protect goods from damage while in transit. There are four main types of polystyrene packaging materials that are commonly used.
Look for ways that you can reduce the amount of polystyrene waste that you generate.
For example, using a reusable cup instead of the disposable polystyrene cups will stop some polystyrene from entering the waste stream.
Many delivery companies have switched to using sealed polyethylene (plastic #2 or #4) pouches filled with air instead of polystyrene packing peanuts. These are much better for the environment than packing peanuts as they require significantly less plastic to manufacture and are much easier for the customer to recycle. The polyethylene bag can simply be pierced to let the air out, and then recycled the with other plastic bags and polyethylene wraps. For more details see our plastic bag recycling page
Meat trays are much harder to avoid (unless you are vegetarian that is). Polystyrene meat trays are not accepted for recycling because they are contaminated by uncooked meat products; they must be disposed of in your general trash. Biodegradable meat trays made from plant oils are in development but are not widely available due to high manufacturing costs. Improvements in manufacturing efficiency will hopefully bring the cost of these trays closer to the cost of polystyrene food trays and we will begin to see more and more of them on our supermarket shelves.
