Ray McIntyre clearly had no idea of the toxic plague he unleashed on the world when he accidentally invented ‘expanded polystyrene’ more than 80 years ago.
In 1941, the industrial scientist was busy mixing substances to create new electrical insulators, but instead he ended up creating an entirely new form of plastic that quickly expanded to 40 times its original size.
Its practical applications grew just as quickly.
This bizarrely light, brittle product has become ubiquitous as a packaging filler, as well as a material for making trays, flotation aids, coffee cups and coolers.
Expanded polystyrene has taken over our world.
A pile of used polystyrene takeaway boxes in Cardiff. This bizarrely light, brittle product has become ubiquitous as a packaging filler, as well as a material for making trays, flotation aids, coffee cups and coolers (stock image)
A duck building a nest on a floating piece of Styrofoam. Ray McIntyre clearly had no idea of the toxic plague he unleashed on the world when he accidentally invented ‘expanded polystyrene’ more than 80 years ago (stock image)
If one year’s global production – 15.4 million tonnes – were divided into one-ton blocks, each would measure about three square meters. In a row they could easily extend around the equator.
But as anyone who’s ever unpacked a new consumer durable product knows, this disarmingly useful stuff is the absolute devil to get rid of.
Try to break it down and it abruptly turns into a blizzard of tiny plastic crumbs spreading into every inaccessible corner.
If you renovate your kitchen or bathroom, your life will sink under giant slabs of the stuff. The amount wrapped around cupboards, white goods and electricity is astonishing.
The curse of expanded polystyrene is that it is so useful.
Because it is approximately 95 percent air, expanded polystyrene is both an excellent thermal insulator for building construction and an effective buoyancy aid in life jackets and rafts.
And because it does not react with other materials and is resistant to heat, it is widely used in the food industry for meat and poultry trays and fast food and beverage containers.
Its lightness and malleability make it a good packing material, adding cushioning but having very little weight. That’s why scientists calculated last year that each of us produces an estimated 40 to 50 kg of polystyrene waste every year.
A huge piece of polystyrene washed up on a beach. If one year’s global production – 15.4 million tonnes – were divided into one-ton blocks, each would measure about three square meters. In a row they would easily extend around the equator (stock image)
That figure is expected to grow, with forecasters from economic analyst Research Nester predicting the global market will grow from the current £15 billion a year to £28 billion over the next decade.
But why is this such a problem? The reason for this is that once expanded polystyrene has been used, we cannot safely throw it away – and it can take at least 500 years to decompose. But in the meantime it becomes toxic.
About 70 percent of all expanded polystyrene ever made is thrown into landfills after use, according to recent figures from Victoria University, Australia. Much of the rest is just swirling around our land and oceans.
UK kerbside recycling schemes do not accept expanded polystyrene. It is bulky, difficult and expensive to transport. As litter it often blows away or ends up in our general waste bins.
Over the past two years, numerous studies have shown how expanded polystyrene can seriously threaten our health.
Last year, pathologists from the University of Vienna warned that tiny particles of polystyrene can enter our brains just two hours after eating food contaminated by the packaging, or after eating meat from animals that had absorbed them as pollutants in nature . world – a specific problem with fish.
Worryingly, these plastic particles have rare chemical properties that allow them to breach our brain’s natural defenses against infections – called the ‘blood-brain barrier’, the study found.
Dr. Lukas Kenner, who led the study, warned: ‘In the brain, plastic particles can increase the risk of inflammation, neurological disorders or even neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.’
Laboratory research on mice eating microscopic polystyrene particles, in the journal Environment International, even reported this year that the creatures became noticeably anxious due to brain inflammation. Clinical anxiety is a known precursor to depression in humans. Other research in this area has linked the consumption of nano-sized polystyrene particles to gastrointestinal disease, which can cause the intestinal lining to enter the bloodstream, causing the chronic body-wide inflammation associated with heart disease and cancer.
Close-up of a weathered piece of white polystyrene. Last year, pathologists from the University of Vienna warned that tiny particles of polystyrene can enter our brains just two hours after we eat food contaminated by the packaging (stock image)
And last year, researchers found in the Journal of Hazardous Materials that ingesting microscopic pieces of polystyrene caused male laboratory mice to become infertile, due to inflammatory damage in their testicles.
So what to do?
We could try banning the stuff. In January, Cornish company Beach Guardian, which organizes community cleanups on local beaches, called for a ban on polystyrene bodyboards – popular with seaside holidaymakers wanting to surf, even though the toys usually break after a few hours. usage. Keep Britain Tidy warns that around 16,000 copies, which cost £10 each, are left on British beaches every year.
And more broadly, the government introduced a ban on expanded polystyrene cups in England last October as part of a blanket ban on single-use polystyrene items.
However, there is one exception to this ban: companies may continue to supply polystyrene food and beverage containers used to transport unprocessed or unprepared food through the supply chain – for example, polystyrene boxes used by fishermen to store and transport their catches.
The Australian government also realized how difficult it is to ban the stuff.
It had planned to phase out its use as consumer packaging by 2023, but the initiative is now more than a year behind schedule, with even a leading charity recycling group, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organization, saying there is ‘no viable alternative’.
Julia Bialetska and her husband Eugene Tomilin, a Ukrainian émigré husband-and-wife team based in Spain, are developing a substitute made from mushrooms and hemp.
They say they have already produced over 7.2 tonnes of their packaging material, which uses strong hemp fibers ‘glued’ together with fungal strands.
It has already completed a successful trial with cosmetics maker L’Oréal, and Samsung and Sony have explored TV packaging options.
‘It is 100 percent biodegradable. After use, it can simply be thrown into the food compost and will decompose completely in just 30 days,” says Bialetska.
Garbage in a river in Manila, Philippines. Expanded polystyrene has taken over our world (stock image)
Meanwhile, global packaging company Mondi announced last November that it would develop a collapsible, compostable alternative to corrugated cardboard.
When it comes to the millions of tons of gruesome expanded polystyrene waste already polluting the world, some scientists are pinning their hopes on recruiting microscopic allies.
They have discovered how bacteria living in the guts of beach-dwelling mussel worms and land-dwelling mealworms have now evolved to break down polystyrene waste into food that their hosts can eat.
Can such bacteria be grown en masse to digest the white plastic waste in our landfills, as well as in our oceans and on our beaches?
The scientists are keeping their fingers crossed. Maybe Mother Nature could eventually be kind enough to clean up our mess.
