Polystyrene Foam Products can also be recycled

Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and rather brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a rather poor barrier to oxygen and water vapor and has a relatively low melting point. Polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics, the scale of its production being several million tonnes per year. Polystyrene can be naturally transparent, but can be colored with colorants. Uses include protective packaging (such as packing peanuts and CD and DVD cases), containers (such as "clamshells"), lids, bottles, trays, tumblers, and disposable cutlery.

As a thermoplastic polymer, polystyrene is in a solid (glassy) state at room temperature but flows if heated above about 100 °C, its glass transition temperature. It becomes rigid again when cooled. This temperature behavior is exploited for extrusion (as in Styrofoam) and also for molding and vacuum forming, since it can be cast into molds with fine detail.

While polystyrene foam products have such a wide range of applications, which will inevitably produce large amounts of waste to affect the environment. Although now we vigorously promote the use of biodegradable plastics, but the widespread use of biodegradable plastics is not realistic, and biodegradable plastics also have many problems, such as uneven quality, poor heat resistance, incomplete degradation, the production process is still cause more pollution and other issues.

Therefore, from the practical point of view of saving resources and reducing pollution, the focus should be on the recycling of waste polystyrene foam products. We should find ways to get into Styrofoam recycling.