To the editor: The U.S. is plagued by tales of merchandise that have been tragically launched into widespread use earlier than their flaws have been realized, and which then took many years of battle and ongoing air pollution to take away from {the marketplace}. DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls, hydrofluorocarbons, lead paint — I might go on and on. Polystyrene foam, broadly known as styrofoam within the U.S., is a uncommon success story during which the general public realized trade made a horrible mistake and insisted that it’s corrected (“Styrofoam fights for its life as plastic industry mounts recycling push,” July 15).
Because the writer of among the earliest ordinances proscribing the use and sale of polystyrene foam, I rejoice this democratic course correction. Polystyrene foam ought to have by no means been born. Let it die.
Tim Goncharoff, Fairfield
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To the editor: What’s the purpose of callin’ photographs; this cue ain’t straight in line.
Cue ball’s fabricated from styrofoam and nobody’s acquired the time.
— “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo,” Grateful Lifeless
Failed makes an attempt to legislate plastic recycling show that nobody’s acquired the time (or cash) to recycle single-use plastics, which is of restricted profit anyway. Not like metals, plastics can’t be recycled repeatedly with out degrading in high quality. Thus, recycling plastics solely delays their inevitable destiny as air pollution.
The last word answer is to make use of degradable plastics. A number of have already been developed. Within the meantime, what can we do with all of those plastics we’re getting buried in? Flip them again into gas.
Polyethylene can be catalyzed into hydrogen and worthwhile pure carbon graphene. And what in regards to the styrofoam? Burn it! This will likely sound insane to environmentalists, as burning polystyrene at low temperatures releases benzene and an entire host of different poisons. Nonetheless, if burned above 1,000 levels Celsius, polystyrene has been shown to burn extra cleanly, producing largely water and carbon dioxide.
We don’t want extra carbon dioxide within the air. However so long as we proceed to function coal-burning energy vegetation (which are actually able to working as excessive as 1,700 degrees Celsius), we could as effectively burn off among the styrofoam by mixing it with coal. It beats dumping it within the ocean.
Jack Debes, Santa Monica
