Every time I eat at restaurants, I observe how takeout orders or unfinished dinners are packaged to be taken away by customers. As a conservation-minded person, I am well aware of how bad Styrofoam packaging, used by most restaurants, is for the environment. So I decided to look into the why behind this choice.
Styrofoam, a registered trademark, is a foam polystyrene form of packaging that was invented in the United States by a Dow Chemical scientist searching for a light and strong plastic product. His result, which is 98 percent air and 2 percent plastic–primarily benzene, a petroleum product, and pentane, a known carcinogen–was patented in 1944 as Styrofoam, the name by which this and similar products are generally known. (I use Styrofoam throughout the column for convenience because most people recognize this trademark for all products actually made from extruded polystyrene foam.)
It is a relatively cheap product to buy, thus making it an attractive option for businesses, especially food businesses. Styrofoam takes years to decompose, some scientists say up to 100 years, and it is generally not accepted by recycling facilities except for those specifically geared to handle the product. This results in Styrofoam entering landfills, where it reportedly takes up more space than any other product. (See the “Cradle to Grave” summary below.)
Last Tuesday, my wife, Bibi, brought me lunch from a local restaurant we often frequent – Turtle Shack, on North Oceanshore Blvd., where we have enjoyed meals since it opened 12 years ago. The current owners shocked me Tuesday when I opened the bag containing our lunches.
The food containers were not Styrofoam! They were brown, 100 percent recycled paperboard. Yes, 100 percent recycled paper. On the bottom of the boxes I read: Bio-Plus Earth® #3, a company’s website, a patent number, and an endorsement from the Green Restaurant Association. Now, this was what I have been looking for in my own quixotic way.
Bibi told me Danny Niday, one of the Turtle Shack owners, said they had switched from Styrofoam to recycled paper products about a week before. I decided to learn more about their decision and planned to stop in on my way to a commission meeting that evening.
I interviewed co-owners Danny Niday and his fiancée Andrea Figliolini, as Chef Craig Niday, Danny’s brother, prepared for the evening meal. My first question to the young couple was, “What was your motivation to switch from Styrofoam to 100 percent recycled paper product?”
Danny’s quick response: “We had a dinner guest from California who told us we really needed to get rid of the Styrofoam boxes and, after a quick trip to her car, showed them a sample of the 100 percent recycled paperboard box. Now, that’s my kind of conservation-minded person – someone who carries a paper box with her 3,000 miles away from home.”
“Was that the only reason? One person’s comment?” I asked.
“No,” Andrea said, “we have had several customers, including you, who have asked us to find a way to replace Styrofoam product. And we have been looking at different alternatives.”
The company Danny and Andrea chose is Fold-Pak, a division of Rock Tenn, with plants in Pennsylvania, Georgia and California. All of its products are produced from 100 percent recycled paper product and they are made in the United States. Designed for hot or cold, wet or dry food, Fold-Pak’s products cost more than Styrofoam containers, but to those restaurateurs like Danny and Andrea, cost didn’t matter as much as a social conscience. (The Flagler Fish Company, also a Flagler Beach restaurant, makes a point of its use of green-friendly containers in its operations.)
As Danny explained to me, “It’s the cost of doing business as a conservation-conscious food business and I found it easy to decide, especially because our business is right here on the beach.” He said this as he looked appreciatively at the sparkling ocean across the street.
Andrea added, “We already switched from Styrofoam cups to eco-friendly cups, and we’re going to switch our napkins and cutlery for takeout foods to recyclable products, too.”
I asked them about the financial aspects of going with the Fold-Pak product line, and they both agreed that, while the cost per container is 15 cents higher, it was worth it to know that the customer can easily recycle the box through neighborhood recycling programs. The boxes do not require special treatment, as do Styrofoam products. In fact, one of the few businesses that encourages its customers to return Styrofoam products for recycling is the Publix Supermarket chain. I suspect that most people simply throw the Styrofoam packaging into their trash, thereby sending it into the landfill to languish for years before it finally breaks down to enter the ground and water below.
While giant food chain McDonald’s switched from Styrofoam to recycled paper in 1986, I figured it had the volume and financial assets to empower such a move. Turtle Shack’s example of conservation conscience struck me as a positive and brave move by a small, Flagler Beach business concerned about the quality of life where it serves the public. I asked Danny if he had any doubts about the decision to go green. His response was simple and direct: “This is the most environmentally responsible area we have ever lived in and we believe our customers will like the switch we made. The cost to do this is worth it, and we think our current and potential customers will appreciate that we care about Flagler Beach and what we have here.”
I believe he is right.
For more information about Styrofoam, go to Dow’s website. For more information about the Green Restaurant Association, go here.
If you know of other local restaurants that have made the switch from Styrofoam to recycled paper, write a brief note to me (or tell us in the comments) and I will feature them in a future column. In the meantime, be well and find something you can do to make a difference on behalf of nature.
Frank Gromling is the owner of Ocean Publishing in Flagler Beach. Reach him by email here.
Download Styrofoam from Cradle to Grave
European Village - Palm Coast says
Go Green!
Meg says
The Flagler Fish Company has also been using paper take out boxes, bowls and cups for years!!! Every bit helps!!!!
Janet Perkins says
Yes! I think we should really eradicate the use of styrofoam. It is not only hazardous to the environment by to our health as well. Also, puncturing a styrofoam may release CFC which is harmful to our now degrading ozone.
question says
Absolutely…Stop Styrofoam now!
And, if you care about this subject on a larger scale…you may want to consider NOT voting for the party who proudly exclaims climate change is a ‘hoax.’
From “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.” — Ronald Reagan, 1981… “A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?” — Ronald Reagan, 1966 … to the #1 “Worst Environmental President in History” : George W. Bush.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has said, George W. Bush will go down as the worst environmental president in our nation’s history.” Kennedy’s book Crimes Against Nature details how Bush has rewritten the nation’s environmental laws in favor of industry and filled the ranks of regulatory agencies with former lobbyists and corporate executives.
Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/presidents-worst-environmental-records-460808#ixzz25yJbfoSR
And if ‘Corporations are people, my friend’ Mitt Romney gets elected president …you think he would enforce environmental regulations against his friends, the corporations?? Don’t think so…
Christmas Come True, Inc. says
Me too!
Ben Blakely says
This is all well and good. But I guarantee you that you will still see environmental friendly cups littering the beaches and roads of Flagler.
I see it every day. Many people are PIGS and SLOBS. They treat the lands as their personal waste dump.
If people properly discarded their styrofoam cups, there would be no problem.
So the conclusion is always the same. PEOPLE are the problem.
They have no compunction or care about spreading their mess around and leaving the land filthy and spoiled.
blondee says
Egg cartons are a similar problem. I only try to buy them in the paper cartons.
I also wouldn’t mind seeing the bakeries (Publix, Winn Dixie etc) eliminate those awful plastic containers and substitute the paperboard. I HATE that plastic and I imagine that those probably never decompose.
Reality Check says
Yes, but they can be rinsed out and recycled in your bin
question says
We should start at Styrofoam and not stop until we end
grossly OVER PACKAGING e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g !!
[besides—you need a sawzall to get it all open]
Tired says
Awesome job Turtle Shack & Flagler Fish!! And Danny, you’re absolutely right, you’ll get my business this week because you spent the extra 15 cents, thank you! We as consumers need to support green initiatives and let those business that do not have green products that we desire them. Vote with your pocketbooks!!
Clint says
Maybe all the vain humans can stop using “plastics” to fill the voids in their appearances.
Just think…eco-boobs. Has a nice ring to it !
Elaygee says
Just remember that the overpackaging started because of all the tampering by crazies who took products and opened them and people who touch and sneeze on stuff without caring. Ben Blakely is correct when he said its people who are the problem
Carolyn says
Way to go Turtle Shack! It’s about time another local restaurant followed our lead since we opened 7 years ago! The Flagler Fish Company uses green/environmentally friendly to go boxes, cutlery kits, drink cups, lids, straws, paper ramekins and we are working on more Green surprises to come!
Susie says
Thank you for doing this story!!!!
Jim N says
While paper cannot be typically tamper resistant, it can make it tamper detectable.
While paper does decompose rapidly, we would be insincere and fool hardy to think it is “The only solution or even a wise one. Anyone who has been to, or lived near a “Pulp Plant” can assure you that the process of making paper comes with its own damages also to our environment.
The best solution……
Educate people and make them responsible for their own actions.
Return the deposit fee’s on glass and other reusable containers, which will encourage people to not fill landfills, and save a few pennies along the way. If you don’t want to do it, fine thats your choice but you will pay more and you should. You will even encourage others to clean up after you by them recycling your trash and making money by doing it.
There was a post a few days ago, a satire about a young cashier telling a person in her 70’s she should be more green….. The lady agreed and then pointed out things like walking, taking the bus, hanging out laundry, not having a television in every room and so on and so on…. The truth is the lady was right. Our previous generations were not the consumption minded feeders, that we have become.
Hill says
It makes me happy businesses in my community care about the environment!!! Thank you for publishing this article, I hope more businesses jump on board with environmentally-friendly initiatives such as this.