For the Life Cycle Inventory of Foam and Coated Paperboard Plates Peer-Reviewed Final Report click the gray button below.

A Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) study1 of polystyrene foam plates and poly-coated paper plates shows that the foam products have a favorable environmental impact compared to the paper products.

Life Cycle Inventory Comparison of 9" Polystyrene Foam and Poly-Coated Paper Plates2

	Energy Usage	Greenhouse Gas Potential	Material Usage	Solid Waste
Polystyrene Foam
Facts	Polystyrene foam uses significantly less energy during its life cycle.	Greenhouse Gas emissions are significantly less with polystyrene foam.	Polystyrene foam plates are 90% air and use 2.5 times less material.	The solid waste impact of polystyrene foam is significantly less.
Comparison5	Replacing polystyrene foam plates with poly-coated paper plates in Los Angeles County will increase the energy usage by the equivalent BTU’s of 500,000 gallons of gasoline.3	By replacing polystyrene foam with paper alternatives in Los Angeles County, GHG emissions will increase by an amount equivalent to adding 1,630 mid-size cars onto California roads each year.4	The material in 100 polystyrene foam plates is equal to the weight of 40 paper plates.1	Polystyrene foam foodservice packaging accounts for less than 1% by weight and volume of land-filled materials.

Polystyrene Foam - What is it?

In addition to Polystyrene Foam's environmental benefit, it is:

functional and versatile;

economical;

sanitary, sturdy, and safe (FDA Accepted);

environmentally friendly as well as resource efficient.

¹Final Peer-Reviewed Report: Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) of Foam and Coated Paperboard Plates, Franklin Associates, Ltd., May 2008. LCI study compares 4.7g polystyrene foam plates and 12.1g poly-coated paper plates. Report available at www.pactiv.com.
²Poly-coated paper plates containing virgin bleached paperboard
³Based on replacing 221,000,000 foam plates with paper plates in LA County, and using a value of 125,000 BTU for the energy content of a US gallon of gasoline as per US EPA's report Solid Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases - A Life Cycle Assessment of Emissions and Sinks, 3rd edition, September 2006, p.100.
⁴Based on 680 lb. CO2 emission increase per 10,000 paper plates, replacing 221,000,000 foam plates with paper plates, and on 9,200 lb. CO2 emission from an average car as per US EPA's report Solid Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases - A Life Cycle Assessment of Emissions and Sinks, 3rd edition, September 2006, p.100.
⁵Comparative results are based on, but are not part of, The Franklin Associates' LCI report.