Poisoning the Pastor's Coffee

Stardate: still March 5
Still the first day of Lent.

So today, whist considering how to poison a colleague who had slighted my honor...
no no, that's the wrong way to start this.

It's a great catch line, it's funny, but it's wrong. And it IS Ash Wednesday, and maybe I've just got dark humor after our evening services (it's surprisingly hard to look person after person in the eye and remind them that they are made of dust and are going back to that relatively soon) but I have to admit that today's foray into plastics research came a bit out of left field.

I was having coffee clutch with a group of colleagues, and I noticed that, like I, several others needed a refill.  So I inquired as to who wanted more coffee.  This is a polite thing to do.  Several took me up on it, but one particularly made a note that "You really are a good WOMAN."     Awkward nanosecond ensued.

To be fair, I'm sure he just misspoke (sure of it!), but since I am the only woman who ever attends these things, and I'm probably young enough to be his granddaughter, and there is always that slight unspoken awkwardness that I am, you know, a FEMALE pastor (and we don't speak of it because not everyone permits that sort of thing around here, I just show up and we pretend that I'm a real pretty boy.  I think.), that I responded by cheerfully chirping "Thank you!" and proceeded to get him coffee.  I don't know if it was the right response, but it was polite, and since we're still trying to get to know each other, it didn't feel quite right to lay the feminist smack down just yet.

But as I poured, I (jokingly!) thought to myself, "I wonder if I could poison his coffee?" (jokingly!) and suddenly realized that our cups were--

 styrofoam.  

I wish it were more profound than that, but there you go.  Yes, my first day on the plastics purge, and I'd already gotten a styrofoam coffee cup without noticing it.  I'd also had jokingly cruel thoughts about the casual misogynist (yes, Matthew 5:22, I see you there), but I am not perfect, and this blog is going to try and stay focused on plastics--but you know, there is a context to my life that just can't be ignored.

So of course my first thoughts were, "It doesn't count!  I didn't buy it!"  (It totally counts).   Then, "It isn't plastic, it's styrofoam!"  (And I realized I didn't actually know that) and then best of all,
"Wait.  So are BOTH our coffees poisoned?"   Which leads us here.

"Computer: Is Styrofoam Plastic?"
"Short answer: yes."
"Long answer?"
"Still yes."

According to the Earth Resource Foundation (sounds legit) styrofoam is "a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene monomer. Most people know it under the name Styrofoam, which is actually the trade name of a polystyrene foam product used for housing insulation. Polystyrene is a light-weight material, about 95% air, with very good insulation properties and is used in all types of products from cups that keep your beverages hot or cold to packaging material that keep your computers safe during shipping."

But then the page goes on to answer the questions I would have asked:
Can it be recycled?

• "While the technology for recycling polystyrene is available, the market for recycling is very small and shrinking. Many Americans are hearing from their curbside recycling agencies that they will not accept Polystyrene goods. The good news is that the current Biopolymer revolution (biodegradable polymers) is charting a path for producing environmentally friendly packaging material to replace those peanuts. Corn based and other seeds known collectively as soapstock waste lead the way. Some are already available as replacements. Perhaps the problematic recycling situation will be solved by replacing the product.
• Polystyrene recycling is not "closed loop" - collected polystyrene cups are not remanufactured into cups, but into other products, such as packing filler and cafeteria trays. This means that more resources will have to be used, and more pollution created, to produce more polystyrene cups.
• -"Plastics Industry Grasps for Straws," Everyone's Backyard, January/February 1990, Citizen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, p. 6."

                               ...short answer: no, not really. More like reused. But since it can't be really recycled (note, define recycling in later post.) it will eventually end up as waste. How much waste is that?

• "By volume, the amount of space used up in landfills by all plastics is between 25 and 30 percent. -"Polystyrene Fact Sheet," Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education, Los Angeles, California.
• Polystyrene foam is often dumped into the environment as litter. This material is notorious for breaking up into pieces that choke animals and clog their digestive systems.
• Many cities and counties have outlawed polystyrene foam (i.e. Taiwan, Portland, OR, and Orange County, CA)."

                           ...well, that almost answers the question of how much waste; not specific to styrofoam, but now I know the general amount of plastics waste: like a third of everything. Can we recycle it--or is it one of those mysterious recycling numbers above #7?

"Computer, what recycling number is styrofoam, if it could be recycled?"
"Styrofoam and other polystyrene plastics are most commonly #6."
"Wait. I thought we could recycle #6?"
"Computing. Source error found. Cannot recycle #6 in your area. See "Acceptable Recycling Materials: Please do not place plastic bags, wire or plastic hangers, styrofoam, trash, or food into your recycling bin. Also window panes, light bulbs, mirrors or ceramics are not allowed."
"Whoops. So that's my first correction."
"Correct."

Ok, final question: is my coffee poisoned?

It turns out that this is a bit of a nuanced question, and one that requires some definitions.  According to my extensive research, the dumbest thing you can ask Google is anything approximating "is _____ poisonous?" because the answer is a polyphonic screaming Yes.  The world is made of Australia, and it is all out to kill you. 

^^sarcasm.

But really, to answer this, you have to look into what polystyrene is made of, how it's used and misused and decomposed.  Being made of processed petroleum product, it isn't really meant to be ingested in of itself, hence the internet seizures about Styrofoam poisoning.  So step one is, obviously, don't eat Styrofoam (check!).  But what of its beverage holding abilities--does it poison what it touches?  

The Earth Resource Foundation notes three interesting facts, but they aren't complete: 

• Chronic exposure affects the central nervous system showing symptoms such as depression, headache, fatigue, and weakness, and can cause minor effects on kidney function and blood. Styrene is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). -OSHA (US Dept of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration)
• A 1986 EPA report on solid waste named the polystyrene manufacturing process as the 5th largest creator of hazardous waste.· The National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research identified 57 chemical byproducts released during the combustion of polystyrene foam. The process of making polystyrene pollutes the air and creates large amounts of liquid and solid waste.
• Toxic chemicals leach out of these products into the food that they contain (especially when heated in a microwave). These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems.

                                   ...which toxic chemicals leach into the food?? Which ones?? How much??
So I can see that chronic exposure (mostly during manufacture, it turns out) is likely cancer-causing, and it
makes a lot of toxic waste, also bad, but really: how poisoned is my coffee right now?

Turns out, probably not much.  But not much poison is probably still poison I'd not have.  In this finely-crafted-yet-subtly-dull-scientific-paper I found for free on the interwebs, bold statements such as these are made:

• In Styrofoam and PS cups studies, hot water was found to be contaminated with styrene and other aromatic compounds. It was observed that temperature played a major role in the leaching of styrene monomer from Styrofoam cups. Paper cups were found to be safe for hot drinks. (!) 
• It has been reported (Van Duuren, 1969; Cohen et al., 2002) that styrene-7,8-oxide bind with DNA and induces tumors and probably causes carcinogenicity.  (Translation: it probably makes cancer by screwing with your DNA.)
• Styrene is a contaminant in all PS foam packages. It was first documented in 1972 (Figge, 1972) and then again in 1976 (Dowty et al., 1976). Styrofoam leach styrene into the liquids they contain. Leaching of styrene increased by heating (Withey, 1976). (Oh, crap.)
• Styrene has been found in food, packed in PS containers (FDA, 2003; Health Canada, 1993). Styrene has been reported in yogurt, cream, salads, soft cheese, margarines, hot or cold beverage, fresh and cooked meat, candied fruit and fast food packed in PS (Miller et al., 1994). Styrene level has also been measured in human tissue. According to a study (ASTDR, 1992) styrene was detected in adipose tissues, and blood.  (DUDE this is like every food I ever ate ever).  
• Brace yourself for SCIENCE:  For this study Styrofoam cups were filled with 200 ml potable water at 50, 70, 90 and 100°C and covered properly. After 60 min water from each cup was analyzed. The results (Table 4) show that at 50°C there was no leaching of any chemical in water. At 70°C only traces of styrene and ethyl benzene were present (1.16 and 0.57 g/L). At 90°C almost all the four components (including toluene and ethyl styrene) were identified and their total concentration was increased to 11.49 g/L. The same increasing trend was noted at 100°C as it is clearly shown in chromatograms (Fig.2). Total concentration of all the four compounds was increased to 21.68 g/L at 100°C (Fig.3). These results indicate that temperature plays a major role in the leaching of styrene and other aromatic compounds.
• And then the coup de grace: In almost all type of PS material, styrene monomer and some related aromatic compounds were leached in water. It may not have immediate eff ect but chronic eff ects may be observed as a result of repeated ingestion of a number of small doses, each in itself insuffi cient to cause an immediate acute reaction but in the long term having a cumulative toxic eff ect.  (Well, crap).

So, was his coffee already poisoned?  Yes, but you'll never make the charges stick.  

why should we care?

Because it appears that polystyrene probably isn't safe, but until it is replaced, we'll probably still see it basically everywhere, particularly fast food joints like Dunkin' Donuts (noooooo!) and church coffee stations. The switch to paper cups might not keep your coffee as warm, but it won't poison you and the earth slowly over time either. 

Better question, why should we think God cares?  

Hmmm.  Well, styrofoam is undoubtedly a man-made product, and one with specific effects on the endocrine system of almost any animal that encounters it for any sustained length of time.  Given that it cannot really be recycled, we can assume that it will remain in the natural environment for...well...maybe ever.  

"Computer, does styrofoam decompose?"

"Unknown.  No styrofoam has actually decomposed yet. Estimates range from 500 yrs to 1 Million yrs"

ouch.   Check out this recycling flier from Australia (not really trying to kill you), that subtly points out how horrible American are for still using so darn much styrofoam.  

So no, really, does God care about this?

I'm going to have to go with "yes" as suggested in the Book of Genesis, citing humanity created as tillers of the soil/keepers of the garden and extrapolated to a basic human job description of keeping things running/not ruining everything.  And if we're making an accumulative poison to contain our coffee around here, that just might be a bad idea.  Because no, this ONE coffee cup isn't so bad.  But the whole of polystyrene created objects, from refrigerator crispers to plastic hangers to cd cases (ALL OF THOSE TOO??) means that we are introducing estrogenic effects on a global scale.  To claim that we don't know this to be a bad thing is poor logic; just because we are pretty sure it's a bad idea, but we don't know yet, is playing Russian Roulette with the ecosystem.  And usually, someone ends up getting shot in that game.  Usually in the head.

Ok, this got real heavy, real fast.  I don't even want to go anywhere with questions like "is manufacturing polystyrene a sin?" or "what is my moral responsibility as a Christian with this information?"  I am not one of those who giddily awaits a magical apocalypse where me and my friends fly away naked while the rest of the world barbecues in its own juices--which in this case, we know would be full of polystyrene leaching anyway.  I believe that we are given gifts and faculties now to help make this world part of God's Kingdom on Earth, and that any hell we create here is of our own making and breaking.  If we want to save this world, it is with God's help (yes, feel free to argue that God saved it 2014ish years ago.  I mean undo ecological damage).  If we want to destroy this world, we do that on our own.  

What would Jesus do?  Order the small coffee at Dunkin' Donuts...it's a paper cup.  

Otherwise, what a gigantic post.  If you got here, you get extra brownie points.  Thanks for reading, and leave me a comment!

Peacefully,

Marie