Plastic Foam Pollution
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Overview
One of the most problematic types of single-use plastic is plastic foam. It’s one of the most common forms of marine plastic pollution and is made with hazardous chemicals. Plastic foam is everywhere: takeout containers, delivery packages, and, increasingly, the ocean. It harms a variety of ocean wildlife, including sea turtles, seals, and shorebirds. Oceana is calling on governments and companies to curb the production and use of this toxic, virtually unrecyclable material and switch to reusable and refillable alternatives.
What is Expanded Polystyrene?
Fact Sheet
Plastic Foam Needs ‘To Go’: How Takeout Containers — and Other Types of Plastic Foam — Hurt our Oceans and our Health
Expanded polystyrene (EPS), or plastic foam, is a light, low-density buoyant plastic foam made from fossil fuels and toxic chemicals to create single-use foodware (such as cups and clamshell takeout containers), packing peanuts, single-use ice chests, and buoys. Plastic foam (or EPS) is often mistakenly referred to as Styrofoam, which is a trademark for a different type of polystyrene.
Why Plastic Foam is Bad for the Ocean
Plastic foam, formally called expanded polystyrene and sometimes mistakenly referred to as Styrofoam, can harm marine animals, mainly through ingestion. Plastic foam contains thousands of chemicals, many toxic, that have been shown to negatively impact animals’ ability to move, reproduce, and grow. Larger pieces can cause intestinal blockage, leading to death.
Adding to its toxicity, plastic foam can act as a sponge in the marine environment, soaking up harmful chemicals in water such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chemicals that were once widely used in electronics but were banned in the United States because of their harmful effects on humans and wildlife.
How Much Plastic Foam is in the Ocean?
Plastic foam is part of the estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic that enter the ocean each year. A 2023 global study estimated that plastic foam makes up 23% of plastic found on beaches, and 17% of plastic found in marine surface waters. Polystyrene foam is light and brittle, so when it breaks apart, tiny pieces are easily carried by wind and water, making it one of the most abundant types of plastic pollution found in oceans.
Why Recycling Plastic Foam Isn’t the Solution
Campaign Victories
Oceana and our allies campaign to reduce plastic foam in the ocean.
Only 1% or less of expanded polystyrene waste is recycled each year in the U.S. Few communities collect it as part of curbside recycling programs; often it’s too contaminated with food and recycling it costs more than making it from scratch. That’s why Oceana advocates for policies to reduce the production and use of this problematic material and urges companies to use nontoxic, reusable alternatives.
How to Keep Plastic Foam Out of the Ocean
- Governments should phase out the production, sale, and distribution of single-use plastic foam — including foodware, packing peanuts, and foam coolers — at the local, state, and national levels.
- Governments must encourage reusable and refillable systems in place of single-use packaging and products.
- Companies should give customers choices that are free of plastic foam.
- Businesses should explore alternatives to using plastic foam for docks, buoys, and other marine uses, and until then, fully encapsulate any plastic foam to reduce the risk of pollution.
Take Action to Stop Plastic Foam Pollution
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Protect Our Oceans from Plastic Pollution
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Tell Congress: Make National Parks Plastic-Free
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Say Farewell to Foam
What is Being Done About Plastic Foam Pollution?
A dozen U.S. states and more than 250 counties and cities have passed laws to curb single-use plastic foam. These laws are working. After Maryland banned single-use foam foodware, foam pollution in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor dropped by 80% within a year. Other initiatives in Washington, D.C., and Charleston, S.C., achieved similar success. In the U.S. Congress, momentum is building for the Farewell to Foam Act, a bill that would phase out single-use plastic foam foodware, packing peanuts, and single-use coolers nationwide.
| State Plastic Foam Bans | ||
|---|---|---|
| State | What Is Banned | Year Law Passed |
| California | Plastic foam foodware, packing peanuts | 2022 (foodware) 2008 (peanuts) |
| Colorado | Plastic foam foodware | 2021 |
| Delaware | Plastic foam foodware | 2023 |
| Maine | Plastic foam foodware | 2019 |
| Maryland | Plastic foam foodware | 2019 |
| New Jersey | Plastic foam foodware, packing peanuts | 2020 (foodware) 2022 (peanuts) |
| New York | Plastic foam foodware, packing peanuts, single-use foam coolers | 2020 (foodware, peanuts) 2024 (coolers) |
| Oregon | Plastic foam foodware, packing peanuts, single-use foam coolers | 2023 |
| Rhode Island | Plastic foam foodware | 2023 |
| Vermont | Plastic foam foodware | 2019 |
| Virginia | Plastic foam foodware | 2021 |
| Washington | Plastic foam foodware, packing peanuts, single-use foam coolers | 2023 |
| Washington, D.C. | Plastic foam foodware, packing peanuts, single-use foam coolers | 2014 (foodware) 2020 (peanuts, coolers) |
Globally, more than 65 countries have passed policies to reduce single-use plastic foam, including China, Australia, Zimbabwe, and every nation of the European Union. These policies are leading to cleaner oceans. The amount of surface-level plastic foam seen floating in China’s marine environments dropped to nearly zero after the country enacted measures to curb plastic foam.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which animals are most impacted by plastic foam?
A: Threatened and endangered sea turtles, protected marine mammals (including porpoise, elephant seals, and Steller sea lions), shorebirds, mud worms, crabs, mussels, and barnacles have all eaten plastic foam. Seabirds are also vulnerable to polystyrene pollution because floating microplastics can resemble fish eggs and other prey.
Q: Is plastic foam (sometimes mistakenly referred to as Styrofoam) toxic to fish?
A: Polystyrene microplastic exposure was found to disrupt hormones and reduce egg production in female fish. Farmed fish are particularly at risk from the plastic foam buoys that surround their pens, because foam microplastic can make virus infections more deadly.
Q: Is plastic foam toxic to humans?
A: Plastic foam, like almost all plastic, originates from fossil fuels and toxic chemicals. Manufacturing plastic foam sends hazardous chemicals, including styrene, benzene, and ethylbenzene, into the air, threatening the health of the people who live nearby or those who work inside the facilities. Styrene is also toxic to the central nervous system and is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen by the National Institutes of Health. Chemicals leached from foam have been linked to developmental and reproductive problems, and may contribute to breast and prostate cancer risk.
Q: Why ban plastic foam containers?
A: In addition to the fact that they contribute to greenhouse gases and are one of the most common types of ocean plastic pollution, foam food containers contain toxic chemicals that can leach into food and beverages, especially at high temperatures or when the contents are high in fat.
Q: Is plastic foam biodegradable?
A: Scientists say it could take centuries for plastic foam to decompose, if exposed to sunlight. Long before that, sunlight and friction, such as waves or abrasion from sand, can cause plastic foam to break up into increasingly smaller pieces called microplastics and nanoplastics. These particles, some thinner than a strand of hair, can become covered with tiny marine life, which causes them to sink to the bottom of the ocean, where they may persist even longer.
Q: How does plastic foam impact climate change?
A: Plastic foam, like almost all plastic, is made from fossil fuels and toxic chemicals. In 2019, global plastic foam production created an estimated 48 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the emissions of 13 coal-fired power plants.
More About Plastic Foam Pollution in the Ocean
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