• Styrofoam packing peanuts is one product made from this harmful plastic.pink styrofoam business image by robert mobley from Fotolia.com
  
  Since the Environmental Protection Association (EPA) established Styrofoam as the fifth largest source of hazardous waste in 1986, the adverse effects of this plastic on landfills remains an ecological fact. A non-sustainable petroleum-based plastic, Styrofoam is developed from a component of polyester resin that is reduced to a workable thickness for making products. Styrofoam is made into food and beverage containers, housing insulation and protective fillers for shipping delicate merchandise, such as computers. Understanding the dangers that Styrofoam has on landfills can help bring attention to this issue, which could ultimately impact the planet's entire ecosystem.
  
  

Statistics

• 1,369 tons of Styrofoam are added to landfills daily.a modern problem image by Natasha Owen from Fotolia.com
  
  Most municipalities sanction landfills as the only legal dumping site for Styrofoam waste. Every day, approximately 1,369 tons of Styrofoam goes into U.S. landfills daily. By volume, Styrofoam takes up 25 to 30 percent of total landfill area. These figures make Styrofoam one of the most environmentally unfriendly types of waste around.
  
  

Non-Biodegradable

• Because of the many centuries needed for decomposition of Styrofoam, it is considered non-biodegradable, and its effect on the environment is unsettling. According to the National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research, burning landfills containing Styrofoam release 57 dangerous chemical byproducts into the air. However, with strict EPA regulations controlling burning in these landfills, scores of toxic chemicals that burnt Styrofoam produces are becoming less of a worry.
  
  

Ground to Air Pollutant

• Sunlight creates harmful air pollutants from Styrofoam that are known as tropospheric ozone. The solar heating of the chlorofluorocarbons and hydrocarbons in Styrofoam also cause air pollution, contaminate landfills, and deplete the ozone layer.