Polystyrene Free State of New Brighton

The Polystyrene Free State of New Brighton

Polystyrene, a.k.a. Styrofoam, is a foam product used for housing insulation, coffee cups, fast food packaging etc. Good stuff then? Well, NO!

Why?

Styrene, the basic building block of polystyrene, is a possible human carcinogen. Toxic chemicals leach out of products into the food that they contain (especially when heated in a microwave), which threaten human health and reproductive systems.

It gets worse ……

The use of hydrocarbons in polystyrene manufacture releases hydrocarbons, which, in the presence of sunlight, form tropospheric ozone – a serious air pollutant at ground level.

And worse ……

Polystyrene is dumped, in significant amounts, into the environment as litter, and is a major component of plastic debris in the ocean. It is notorious for breaking up into very small pieces that choke animals and clog their digestive systems.

And even worse ……

Discarded polystyrene does not biodegrade for hundreds of years and is resistant to photolysis (the breaking down of material through the absorption of [sun] light).

So, is there any good news? Yes ……

There are alternatives to polystyrene ……….

Recycled paper, bamboo, corn plastics, etc. are easily renewable resources that can be used instead of Polystyrene for take-out fast food containers, whether for fish & chips, burgers, tea, coffee etc., AND all of these products are biodegrade and easily recycled.

The New Brighteners Hate Polystyrene ……

Polystyrene is one of the biggest and most serious of our litter pollutants. It’s bad for Animals, it’s bad for Humans, it’s bad for the Environment. In fact, it’s just BAD!

So we want to encourage shops and fast-food outlets of all types, to move away from Polystyrene, to recyclable and less dangerous alternatives. We want to encourage event organisers to only allow fast food concessions at their event, if they are polystyrene free, and for Wirral Council to encourage this when granting event licences.

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This is why The New Brighteners are declaring: