Using Oranges to Break Down Polystyrene?

Is breaking down polystyrene (more commonly known under the brand name "styrofoam") as easy as leaving your fresh squeezed cup of orange juice from Jamba in the hot sun? Well not exactly and perhaps we can for now file this story in "don't believe everything you read on 'the internets,' " but the Jakarta Post reports that high school students have discovered a way to break down polystyrene into a non-toxic safe to dispose of solution that "can be decomposed by microorganisms in the air and soil." Apparently orange peels contain limonene, a substance that is used an an industrial degreaser and is found in those "orange cleaners" that have become all the rage. This "breakthrough" bears further investigation, the result of which will be reported here.

Plastics and Packaging Concerns By and For All

Proving that concerns for our environment crosses party lines and oceans, Conservative Member of Parliament John Hayes has come out against over packaging.

Mr Hayes, MP for South Holland and The Deepings, raised the issue during a House of Commons debate last week and is urging the Government to take action sooner rather than later to help save the environment.

He said: "When my young children have their toys they come packaged in paper, metal, plastic, wood and every other kind of thing that one can imagine.

"When we bought toys or when they were bought for us as children, they came very simply packaged."

Mr Hayes added that there are many other examples of ways that excess packaging is getting "out of control"....He added: "Not too long ago fish and chips used to be wrapped in paper, not polystyrene boxes, and milk and pop came in returnable glass bottles.

"We need to look again at the benefits that returnable glass bottles and other forms of packaging can deliver compared to their plastic and polystyrene alternatives."

Read the entire article here. Right on, MP Hayes. Rock the UK!