Styrofoam can take 500 years to decompose as it bloats landfills around the world, but new packing material called biofoam made of forestry waste can decompose in a matter of weeks, say scientists.
University of British Columbia researcher Feng Jiang says that’s a potential environmental boon, because Styrofoam currently fills up to 30 per cent of landfills.
The partnership came about three years ago when Jiang met Reg Ogen, president and CEO of the First Nation’s Yinka Dene Economic Development Limited Partnership, at an encounter arranged by the B.C. Forests Ministry. “We met with Dr. Jiang there and we looked at different ways of utilizing the wood waste and finally we came up with a product that I think we can do something good with. And hopefully, at the end of the day, to keep all of the Styrofoam out of the landfills and then make sure that we continue to protect Mother Earth,” said Ogen.Ogen hopes biofoam will create First Nations jobs that were lost when the pine beetle epidemic swept through their timber industry.
Biofoam’s texture is close to Styrofoam and can be similarly fashioned into different shapes. Its natural origins make biofoam slightly darker in colour.
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