Compostech

Replacing Styrofoam with eco-friendly alternative Niagara Falls resident Clarke Bitter wants styrofoam to disappear. He's not alone - environmentalists all over North America are pushing for the extinction of polystyrene. (styrofoam is a trade name.)

The lightweight food packaging is a great insulator, but it's made from crude oil, a polluting, non-renewable resource. It contains benzene and styrene, which are toxic to humans. It's recyclable, but the only plant in Canada that recycles polystyrene for municipalities, including Niagara, shut down in December because it was losing money.

Bitter, the president of P&C Compostech, said he thinks he has an eco-friendly solution that will make money. "Our goal is to replace Styrofoam," Bitter told Niagara Region's waste management committee late last month. "We could help divert Styrofoam completely out of the waste stream."

Bitter's company is the Canadian distributor for a line of compostable bamboo and sugar cane paper products created in China.

The company claims its plant based material:

-is biodegradable, oil-proof, water-proof and non-toxic;
-is microwave-safe, unlike polystyrene;
-will break down in a backyard composter in 31 days. If it does end up in a landfill, it will disappear in three months.

Right now, the Styrofoam replacements are made in China, a long, greenhouse gas emitting haul from Ontario. But Bitter told councillors plans exist for a Canadian manufacturing plant using local materials, possibly from the wheat belt.

Bitter plans to market the product, once approved, to grocers, hospitals, schools, the takeout food industry and municipal orginizations.

It could be the perfect time to pitch alternatives, with polystyrene recycling stalled and some North American cities banning styrofoam. Niagara has been forced to collect and store Styrofoam in its increasingly stuffed recycling plant since December, said associate waste director Catherine Habermebl.

Annually, the Region collects about 70 tonnes of polystyrene. The Region was poised to run out of storage space this month, but recently found a temporary buyer for the material overseas. Transportation, however, is expensive.

Habermebl said the Region is studying Bitter's product, but warned Compostech containers can't be recycled through the Blue Box program - for now. She was unsure if Niagara's local compost contractor will take the containers in the Green Bin, either.

Compostech isn't the only alternative to Styrofoam available on the market. Toronto based advocacy group Naturopack Sustainable Packaging is pushing that city to ban Styrofoam, as it is in serveral California and Alaska communities.