Something about the headline, "Earth-Raping Dictator-Supporting House GOP Brings Styrofoam Back," gave me the idea that this wasn't going to be a balanced look at polystyrene. Ken Layne from political blog Wonkette.com blasted the U.S. House of Representatives today for its decision to stop using compostable foodservice products in its cafeteria, and go back to using PS. The story doesn't make the common mistake of calling PS foam foodservice "Styrofoam," even though the headline does. But Layne jumps right into the blog with a rant against "foamed polystyrene," which he calls "a miraculous invention that manages to be completely awful through every step of its near-eternal "life cycle" -- it is manufactured with petroleum that must be imported from Middle East dictatorships, toxic "styrene oligomers" migrate into the food it holds, it's highly flammable and produces black poisonous smoke, and most of the 25 billion polystyrene cups tossed every year will take more than half a millennium to degrade." Layne writes that "people with brains" ban PS. The comment section on the blog is already going bananas. My favorite (?) so far: "Polystyrene cups are the perfect metaphor for the Repubicans (sic): White, lightweight and bad for the environment." So much for the spirit of cooperation in Washington these days.
The Plastics Blog
How you really feel about polystyrene, Wonkette?
Letter
to the
Editor
Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]