# How to get rid of styrofoam **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105 "2003-02-14T18:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/1 "2003-02-14T18:24:16Z")
I just visited a friend who sells machinery. One of his greatest headaches is getting rid of the large styrofoam blocks that things are packed in. Does anyone know what is done with this stuff after the disposal guys pick it up ? Or how it could be reduced in size to be more easily stored? or another use for it? It would be better if we could find a way to re-form it (as insulation blocks, for instance). Thanks for any suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/2 "2003-02-14T18:30:33Z")
You could turn it into napalm. ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/3 "2003-02-14T18:57:30Z")
And it only took 6 minutes… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/4 "2003-02-14T19:10:14Z")
It can be recycled. They crunch it up, melt it, and blow out as styrofoam again. Ironically enough, it’s actually more environmentally correct to recycle styrofoam than it is to recycle all the paper containers that MacDonalds switched to using so that people could recycle their food containers. The industry was all set up to recycle the styrofoam, and nobody was bothering to do it… ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/5 "2003-02-14T19:35:14Z")
I would imagine that has a lot to do with bulk. The stuff’s hard to store, big to move, etc. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/6 "2003-02-14T19:37:03Z")
Cut it into envelope-sized, half-inch-thick slabs and mail it out to junk mailers in their return envelopes. ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/7 "2003-02-14T19:37:39Z")
Of course, apathy probably has a lot to do with it. One of our local buildings stopped thier paper recycling program because their tenants (including two conservation / environmental advocacy groups) couldn’t be bothered with it. So, any practical suggestions as to how we could re-use this stuff? ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/8 "2003-02-15T15:08:56Z")
There was a science teacher guy on David Letterman once who had a giant tank of styrofoam peanuts that he dumped a few cups of acetone on. They actually shrivelled up and disappeared and he claimed he didn’t know what the problem was with styrofoam was because all you had to do was go around dumping acetone on it to get rid of it. I thought that was somewhat shortsighted reasoning considering what the water supply might look like in a couple years after dumping gallons of acetone into it. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/9 "2003-02-15T19:42:20Z")
Which begs the question, when someone sends you styrofoam peanuts, how do you tell it’s not something else? ---
**Author:** ![something\_clever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@something\_clever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/something_clever)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/10 "2003-02-15T19:56:11Z")
some of the packing peanuts sold now dissolve in water… completely enviromentally safe. it really sucks though cause i recieved something once that sat outside on my porch for a few hrs… it was raining. my package was surrounded in sticky goo… kind of like partially melted marshmallows… ---
**Author:** ![Jeff41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@Jeff41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff41)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/11 "2003-02-15T20:06:32Z")
Yeah, I’ve seen those starch packing peanuts too…They made them so they’re safe if animals decide to eat them. They’re not too bad with a little garlic. What kind of gases did dissolving styrofoam with acetone give off? ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/12 "2003-02-15T20:33:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff41 \* > \*\*Yeah, I’ve seen those starch packing peanuts too…They made them so they’re safe if animals decide to eat them. > \*\* Actually, I believe they made them so that animals _would_ eat them. That they would be disposed of by mixing with cattle feed for example. My cousins are farmers and they had loads of them, I think they were made from beet-husks or something similar. My cousins used to eat them to show off, apparantly they were like unflavoured, stale cheeze doodles. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/13 "2003-02-16T03:51:51Z")
Several volatile substances will dissolve styrofoam, but acetone is great, and in reponse to the OP, treating the styrofoam with some solvent will solve one problem you ask about - volume. You can reduce it to virtually zero by this method. But those solvents are often pretty dangerous materials. Folks - try this at home: nail polish remover is essentially acetone. Drop a little on a packing peanut and watch the thing shrivel. Also works pretty well with white out. My WAG is that it would work with magic marker to some extent - but that’s a science fair project waiting to happen. xo C. ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/14 "2003-02-16T04:55:03Z")
We discussed dissolving it, but decided that would only make a more complicated problem. We’d be left with a volatile, unusable waste instead of a stable waste. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![SchlitzGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@SchlitzGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SchlitzGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/15 "2003-05-13T17:42:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CC \* > \*\*Several volatile substances will dissolve styrofoam, but acetone is great, and in reponse to the OP, treating the styrofoam with some solvent will solve one problem you ask about - volume. You can reduce it to virtually zero by this method. But those solvents are often pretty dangerous materials. Folks - try this at home: nail polish remover is essentially acetone. Drop a little on a packing peanut and watch the thing shrivel. Also works pretty well with white out. My WAG is that it would work with magic marker to some extent - but that’s a science fair project waiting to happen. xo C. \*\* I remember as a kid realizing what airplane glue did to styrofoam - must’ve got some too close to the model I was making (…but I didn’t inhale). Anyway, it was pretty cool. I’m no tree hugger, but I favor those peanuts that dissolve in water, too. Those that don’t, well, you can always spray-paint them fluorescent orange and pass them off as Cheetos. ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/16 "2003-05-13T20:37:11Z")
FYI, gasoline does very well too. It doesn’t shrivel, it simply disappears on contact. Wanna try something fun? Give someone an empty styrofoam cup and either have them hold it for you to fill with gas or somehow convince them that they need to fill it. The gas slices right thru the cup like it’s not even there. Very neat. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/17 "2003-05-14T09:32:32Z")
When you dissolve polystyrene in acetone (or other organic solvents), you end up with polystyrene cement, which is not useless. Polystyrene can also be recycled, spun and compressed into a product that is very much like wood in appearance and structural properties, but is weatherproof. ---
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-styrofoam/155105/18 "2003-05-14T12:07:39Z")
Styrofoam is mostly air ain’t it? I bought an air conditioner pad, I thought it was gonna be pretty heavy being concrete and all but it used styrofoam for the aggregate, it was pretty light. Try running some through a wood chipper and mixing it with concrete for light weight building blocks.