Let it go
In 1839 while experimenting with storax, the resin of the Oriental Sweetgum tree, a German apothecary named Eduard Simon, discovered a jelly-like substance he called styrol.
A hundred years later Swedish scientist Carl Georg Munters discovered a method for making Simon’s styrol into a stable foam.
Munters’ stable styrol foam sat on a shelf and was almost forgotten, until a Kansas engineer by the name of Otis Ray McIntire, snapped it up
Otis Ray, who was looking for a substitute for rubber, did some further tinkering and presented it to his company Dow Chemical, who promptly launched it under the name of Styrofoam.
It was revolutionary – Styrofoam was light, cheap, easy to mold and a fantastic insulator – it soon found its way into the walls of millions of homes, refrigerators, aircraft, surfboards and of course packaging.
Both Munters and McIntire were lauded and went on to have glittering careers – Munters retired with over 1000 patents to his name while McIntire became Dow Chemical’s director of technology and was inducted into the American Inventors Hall of Fame.
Both Munters, who died 1989, and McIntire, who followed in 1996, however would live long enough to see the first Styrofoam bans being implemented by communities overwhelmed by takeaway containers and packaging that would never biodegrade.
In quiet moments alone on their respective verandas, I imagine the triumph of their shared invention being clawed at by creeping doubts.
The dumb ubiquity of discarded Styrofoam containers in every park they walk in, every gutter they step over, the bits of it washing up on beaches and riverbanks, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces but never disappearing, haunting them.
A year after Otis Ray McIntire died, racing boat captain, Charles Moore, returning from a trans-Pacific race, found himself at the edge of an undulating raft of plastic waste that stretched for as far as the eye could see. Moore called his discovery the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
In country after country recycling schemes have repeatedly tried and failed to deal with Styrofoam. Now this once miraculous material is being slowly phased out.
It’s happened at Fair Food too: over the last two years wood pulp cardboard coolers and recycled paper insulated pouches have replaced polystyrene coolers (note: we still like to recycle the poly coolers our broccoli is delivered in)
The bit where you can really help is by sending your cooler box or pouch back with your driver, or leaving them out when your next delivery is due so they get another use and maybe one or two more after that.
Plastic Free July is just about over – here’s a few makers and the packaging we’re proud to share and support this and every month.
Dirt have refillable laundry liquid pouches and Dr Planet sell 1L and 2.5L bulk castille refillable soaps.
Plastic-bag-free CERES Bakery bread sports all-paper recyclable packaging
Delicious & dark Corner Store Coffee employ a home compostable bag for their Fair Trade specialty beans.
And of course there’s Schulz Organic Dairy’s refillable milk in glass that’s saved more than a million plastic bottles!!
Island Home share not only the food traditions Sri Lanka but also use the zero waste banana leaf packaging it’s always come wrapped in – genius!!
Fair Fizz, our own bottle-saving soda-maker CO2 refill cylinders for around half the price of your average Soda Stream swap.
Then there’s the forty-three organic bulk nuts, dried fruits, pulses and grains you’ll find packed in Detpak reusable biodegradable and compostable paper bags.
Have a great week
Chris
