[GreenYes] Styrofoam & Cafeteria Waste

["Stephanie C. Davis" <ScD18@WasteReductionRemedies.com>]

Title: Styrofoam & Cafeteria Waste

The below 2 emails are from another listserv; I sent the one immediately below the preface with a query that I thought might be better answered by GreenYes Listserv participants.

Thanks for any info on Styrofoam/plastics lifecycle information.  -Stephanie
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Great  info! - but I still recommend staying away from styrofoam whenever possible and switching, to cafeteria-ware disposables that can be included in already existing/established plastic recycling programs – or simply using thick paper products (with recycled-content of course!) – are better options if a facility must use disposables.  

These other options have no extra processing equipment to buy, less voluminous “fluff” than styrofoam and I’m betting the other materials are eaten less by wild animals and birds when they accidentally “fly” out of their collection/disposal containers.

I recall some negative P2 lifecycle issues with styrofoam when compared to other plastics, but my memory may be wrong; does anyone have apples-to-apples plastic comparison lifecycle information?  -Stephanie
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            Stephanie C. Davis
WASTE REDUCTION REMEDIES SM            
                510/527-8864                                
ScD18@WasteReductionRemedies.com            

NOTE that on TWTh, I can be found at:
           Sutter Delta Medical Center
Quality Management / Infection Control
3901 Lone Tree Way,  Antioch, CA 94509
            DavisSt@sutterhealth.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    phone:      925-756-1118      fax:     925-779-3044

Where I am the Infection Control Manager,
      work which is separate from WRR 
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"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as much as you please."
Mark Twain, 1835-1910
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> CARE - Dart Containters Recycling Program: "Cups are Recyclable"
>
> Check out thier website, www.dartcontainer.com - go to "environment"
>
> Contact: David Jolly,  619 226-7764,  Environmental Rep
>
> Brief program description:
>
> Customers lease "densifier"  (about $300, includes maintenance and pick-ups).  DART picks-up and back-hauls the "cyclinders" created by the densifier (about 40 lbs, the size of a small hay bale).
>
> The polystyrene does not need to be "clean" just well segregated from contaminants.  That's obviously the tough part.