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FALSE The use of EPS Foam is a threat to ozone layer, which contributes to “global warming”, the “greenhouse effect” and acid rain.
FACT The use of EPS foam has no effect on the ozone layer whatsoever.
Ozone gas forms a thin layer within the earth’s stratosphere, which filters out much harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
Over the past decade, it has become well known that the family of chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has a depleting effect on this protective layer of ozone.

     EPS Foam does now use CFCs at any stage in its production or use.
FALSE  

The use of EPS foam makes a major contribution to the emission of man-made volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
FACT The use of EPS foam contributes only 0.2 percent to man-made VOCS.

This results from the gas pentane being released during the processing of EPS foam into finished goods. Pentane belongs to a chemical family, which includes better-known natural gases methane and ethane, propane and butane, which are used for cooking, heating and transport.

Much larger quantities of methane are released from the decomposition of house hold waste than pentane from the manufacture of EPS foam.

          Even larger quantities of VOCs are released from the burning of fossil fuels, or indeed from many natural processes.
FALSE  

The manufacture and use of EPS foam poses a risk to health and the environment.
FACT The manufacture, conversion and use of EPS foam poses no risk to health and the environment, providing standard product stewardship practice in applied.

In its moulded form, EPS foam typically comprises around 98% air. The remaining 2% is polystyrene.

    Styrene, the building block for polystyrene, has been manufactured on an industrial scale for more than 60 years. It can be found naturally in many foods, including strawberries, beans nuts, beer, wine, coffee beans and cinnamon.

Many studies have been conducted on the health effects of styrene, particularly links with cancer. Recently published studies, which traced 50,000 workers exposed to styrene over a 45-year period, showed no association between styrene and cancer.

Monitoring of styrene emissions in residential buildings under actual living conditions has shown that the use of EPS as an insulating material does not present a health risk.

     

The expansion agent used to create the foam structure of molded polystyrene is pentane. Like other alkane gases, such as methane, pentane is continually being formed by natural processes such as in the digestive systems of animals and the anaerobic decomposition of plant matter by micro-organisms. Once released into the atmosphere, these gases are rapidly broken down.
FALSE  

EPS foam waste cannot be reused or recycled.
FACT There are several waste management options available, including reduction at source, reuse, mechanical recycling, feedstock recycling, energy recovery and landfill.
The recycling technologies employed can be varied according to the quantity and composition of the waste management programs can be trailored to suit local circumstances, such as the infrastructures for collecting waste and demand for recycled products. Recycling techniques must be chosen to maximize the value of the goods produced, whilst minimizing the consumption of resources for transporting, sorting and cleaning the waste