Expanded polystyrene, or so called Styrofoam (a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company), takes more than 500 years to decompose and is considered an environmental pollutant. Its expanded foam form consists of 95% air and only 5% polystyrene. Due to this composition, it is barely compressible, and takes up to 30% of our landfills.

Styrofoam is also a big problem for marine life. In water Styrofoam breaks down into tiny pieces that don't biodegrade, and are consumed by marine life; styrofoam causes great harm for the birds and fish that consume it. Polystyrene foam is a difficult product to include in a curb side recycling program due to its incompressibility and expanded volume.

Examples of polystyrene usage are fast food and grocery packaging, protective packaging, construction thermal insulation material. Due to Styrofoam's negative issues with collection, a more localized collection and recycling program is needed.

We are proposing a "Take Back" Styrofoam initiative for all retailers. We are calling on the BC government to pass a regulation requiring all retailers and businesses to take back Styrofoam packaging and have it recycled. Please sign our online petition. Let's make a difference together!

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