Thanks to TSARC (Transfer Station and Recycling Committee) and with the help of some student volunteers, a Styrofoam or Expanded Polystyrene EPS #6 Collection will take place at the SWAP tent at the Transfer Station and be recycled with some methods, like a foam densifier, on Saturday, March 6th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nowadays, more and more activities are held to recycle foam. The apparent reason is that people’s awareness of environmental protection is increasing. In fact, the root cause is that the white pollution caused by foam has begun to do harm to the health of people.
Among the almost 360 million tons of plastic produced worldwide in 2018, foam accounts for 30 million tons. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the recovery rate of daily waste is about 20%. Many people with weak environmental awareness maintain that foam pollution does not have a great impact on their lives. Is this really the case? But obviously, the government realized that foam was invisible to the masses of Shanghai, so more recycling events were held.
The tiny pieces of foam end up in streams, lakes, and oceans, where they may be ingested by marine life, and some people may think that it is only these marine lives that are harmed. But these marine organisms are not ultimately ingested by humans who eat them. One of the toxic ingredients in the foam is styrene, which is believed to be a carcinogen. Long-term exposure can lead to more serious effects, including depression, headache, fatigue, weakness, hearing loss, and renal dysfunction. The government attempt to apply foam densifier to avoid the harm of foam by recycling it.
Foam densifier can densify the discarded foam by hot-melt technology. In the process, it will not produce waste and cause secondary pollution. Moreover, these foam can be compressed into hot-melt ingots after the treatment of foam densifier and become the raw materials for manufacturing plastic particles. Finally, they will become high-quality frame products without any harm to health. From the government’s point of view, this is an excellent way to recycle foam.
There is an old saying that the body is the capital of revolution. A healthy body is the basis of all our actions. For a responsible government, there is no doubt that compared with people’s health, the cost of investing in foam densifier is absolutely not worth mentioning.