Polystyrene is almost difficult to degrade, which becomes one of the resistance targets of many environmentalist. The government of Washington, DC once issued a new regulation to prohibit the use of disposable polystyrene lunch boxes and beverage bottles in all restaurants and grocery shops. Such regulation is practiced to protect the environment and maintain sustainable development in the region.



However, the government’s ban of polystyrene products has faced strong opposition from the plastics industry. They claim that it will increase operating costs of the company which sells takeout food, and as a result, these costs will be finally passed on to costumers, which create unnecessary burdens to enterprises and individuals. Meanwhile, those who support the policy declare that the prohibition will significantly reduce the flooding plastic waste with the increasing use of foam packaging. The discarded plastic waste fills up over the river bank, causing serious environmental pollution.Accordingly, the prohibition of polystyrene products still need to be implemented.



Though the prohibition works in deed, yet not all environmentally harmful substances should be banned, especially polystyrene, as the prohibition would result in a lot of waste of resources, and even not beneficial to industrial and economic development. On the contrary, we should seek more optimized solutions, such as polystyrene recycling, by which the utilization of polystyrene can be greatly improved, and at the same time, it avoid environmental pollution to a certain extent.
Polystyrene recycling has won its increasingly popularity to dispose the waste polystyrene foam boxes. However, people may meet several problems to recycle polystyrene because of its large volume and light weight, and it’s not always clean enough. Therefore, the first step for recycling is to reduce the foam volume. After compressing or melting the polystyrene foam, it will be easier to store and transport.



Polystyrene recycling is becoming more and more important, especially among the plastic recyclers. Nowadays, the price of the recycled foam is quite competitive that it attracts many people to join in the polystyrene recycling industry, and people are gradually aware of that polystyrene recycling turns out to be a better solution instead of prohibition.