Fighting Against Foam

By Brie Roche-Lilliott, Staff writer

During lunch on Wednesday, March 11, about twenty-five FV students listened attentively while three members of Earth Resource Foundation (ERF) lectured on the disastrous effects of Styrofoam on cities and neighborhoods. While this isn\’t ERF\’s first time speaking to Green Leaf Society, their motivational and helpful discussions have helped the club take action, and in this case, against Styrofoam.

Green Leaf member and sophomore Miguel Santiago says that since the presentation he has been more actively encouraging people to use recyclable paper instead.

“I\’ve been picking [Styrofoam] up from the beach and in the water,” Santiago says. “It really affects the embryonic growth of sea creatures.”

“I eat out a lot, and all of my favorite Vegan restaurants use Styrofoam, so I come home feeling hypocritical. If it were banned, it wouldn\’t have to be a struggle between Styrofoam and being healthy,” says Vice President Mukta Mohan (‘10).

Green Leaf President Rosie Said (\’10) says, “We use so much Styrofoam everyday and no one really knows about the harmful consequences of what we are using.”

Styrofoam products are made of petroleum, a toxic and heavily polluting resource that contains the chemical Styrene, which not only makes the products non-biodegradable and non-compostable, but also poisonous because the chemicals actually leak into the food they contain.

The ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry), has taken many tests using Styrene, and publicly announced that, “It [styrene] is a possible carcinogen… causes slow reaction time, concentration problems, changes in vision, hearing loss (in animals), and impaired learning abilities.”

On average, each Californian pays a minimum of $1000 a year, and $352 million in California alone, just to dispose of and clean up trash and litter. It is said that if Styrofoam and other single-use plastics are banned, it will save the state millions of dollars in trash cleanup, and the average citizen at least a couple hundred dollars.

For more information on volunteering, how you can help, and to learn more about the consequences of Styrofoam, check out the Earth Resource website: www.earthresource.org.