Which Material is Actually the Best? Comparing plastic, metal, paper, and glass
When you’re grocery shopping or shopping online and you’re trying to pick the best material for the planet but also for you, it can be hard! There are so many options to pick from and it boils down to so many different items that could make it better for you and worse for someone else. So, let’s discuss today how to decide which single-use material is the best.
Of course, opting out of using single-use is always step one, single-use items should be a last resort since our recycling system is quite flawed and some of these items listed cannot even be recycled. But, single-use is unavoidable today, so let’s be mindful about choosing the best items we can.
Hard Plastic
This is things like water bottles, detergent bottles, and things of that nature. This is typically a plastic #1-2 and sometimes #5. It is rigid, stands up on its own, and is the most recyclable out of the types of plastic.
How is it made?
Plastic is made from oil. Yes, the same oil that gets turned into gasoline to power our homes and cars. Oil is extracted, transported to refineries, turned into petroleum and other by-products, sent to other facilities to be turned into plastic pellets, and THEN it’s melted and molded into packaging. It’s quite a process to turn into something we use for just a few moments and then have to throw away (or maybe recycle). Not to mention, extracting oil from the ground is very toxic and pollutive. Not a single step in this creation process is harm-free. You can learn about how plastic is made in full in this video.
Emissions
According to Our World in Data, plastics create about 3.3% of emissions worldwide. They also say, “Since the world emits around 54.6 billion tons of CO2eq, plastics were responsible for around 3.3% of global emissions.” Here is a handy chart to get a good gauge.
This other chart from Our World in Data also shows how the emissions of plastic production keep going up. This could be due to the world’s increase in plastic usage.
Resource Usage
Since most plastic is made as a byproduct of oil, I wouldn’t say it takes up any more land than if we just extracted oil to power our cars and never made another piece of plastic again. The oil is being extracted anyway, the plastic is just an afterthought, a “what do we do with all these leftovers” solution. While being very pollutive to create because of this process, this process isn’t using any more land or other resources to create plastic (well, perhaps more energy).
Recyclability
Hard plastics are actually one of the most commonly accepted items for recycling due to being lightweight, commonly consumed, and quite easy to recycle. But, just because all of this is true doesn’t mean it WILL be recycled or that recycling it has much value.
Plastic #1 is about 20% likely to be recycled. That doesn’t mean 20% of it IS recycled, but how LIKELY it is to be recycled. Among all plastic, only about 5-9% has ever been recycled. So, it’s hard to say what the true number of just plastic #1 is truly recycled, but it’s probably not a lot.
End of Life
If it’s not recycled, where does it go? To the landfill where it will never break down or into the environment where it will also never fully break down. Instead, it will turn into harmful microplastics that get into our water, our soil, and our food via the food chain. From start to end, plastic is easily one of the most pollutive materials we can consume. As we will see, no single material we will be discussing is perfect, but plastic is probably the farthest from perfect. Most environmentalists choose to avoid plastic as much as possible.
Pros:
Widely accepted for recycling
Non-breakable
Lightweight
Can be reused
Cons:
Just cause it’s accepted for recycling doesn’t mean it WILL be recycled
If it ends up in the environment, it causes ever-lasting pollution
It can be toxic to our health as well
Rating
Emissions - 3/10
Resource usage - 5/10
Recyclability - 2/10
End of Life - 1/10
Durability - 10/10
Reusability - 5/10
Total: 26/60
Thin Plastic
This is plastics numbered #3-4 and #6-7. This is things like grocery bags, bread bags, chip bags, Styrofoam, freezer bags, and things of that nature. They’re so thin that the recycling of it is rarely valuable enough to even try. It takes more energy to melt it down than it’s worth since you only get a small amount from the process.
How is it made?
It’s quite the same as hard plastic. It’s made by extracting oil from the ground, turning it into petroleum and other byproducts, and then turned into packaging. Thin plastics are usually printed into a film that can later be cut and molded into whatever shape manufacturers need for their bags. Again, you can learn more about the creation of plastic in this video.
Emissions & Resources
So, the same emissions can be applied to thin plastics as hard plastics above. Please see the charts from Our World in Data for more information. The same applies to resource usage.
Recyclability
While hard plastics have the potential to be recycled 20% of the time, thin plastics are more like 5% of the time. That is NOT good. What happens? They just end up in the landfill. Yes, there are other options like eco-bricking, downcycling, and so forth, but even then, the chances of it ending up in the landfill are higher than anything else.
Even if it CAN be recycled, you can rarely place thin plastics in your recycling bin. If you want to recycle thin plastics, you have to take all the responsibility to sort it and take it to an appropriate facility such as a grocery store drop-off box for thin plastics or straight to a recycling center. I want to make a future post about if these programs actually work as well as talk about why plastic recycling is so flawed so let me know if there is any interest in either of those topics.
End of Life
Just like with hard plastics, thin plastics will end up in the landfill or as pollution. Thin plastics may even be more harmful since they can trick marine life into looking like food and can tangle animals easier than hard plastic. Plus, it is even LESS recyclable meaning it’s risk of ending up in the landfill or the environment is even higher.
Pros:
The lightest of them all
Easy to store malleable plastic versus rigid packaging
Keep food fresh
Cons:
Rarely recycled and even if it is, you have to take it somewhere
If it ends up in the environment, it causes ever-lasting pollution
It can be toxic to our health as well
Difficult to reuse
Rating
Emissions - 3/10
Resource usage - 5/10
Recyclability - 1/10
End of Life - 1/10
Durability - 8/10
Reusability - 2/10
Total: 20/60
Bioplastic
This is a more eco-spin on regular plastics. Instead of being made from crude oil they’re made from plants! But, is this actually better?
How is it made?
Bioplastics are made from plants, hence the name. But, these plants can either be byproducts like coconut husks and pineapple skins or can be new food materials like corn and potatoes. I personally don’t like the idea of growing food to turn it into single-use packaging just to be thrown away or maybe composted. Byproducts are the way to go here. The American Chemical Society, says that “bioplastics are made by converting the sugar present in plants into plastic. In the United States, that sugar comes from corn. This makes bioplastics renewable and better for the environment than conventional plastics.”
Yes, it is better in the sense that harvesting corn is less pollutive than harvesting oil. But again, growing water-intensive mono-crops just to make stuff that we’re going to throw away? I’m not a fan of but let me know how you feel below.
Emissions
To create one metric ton of bioplastic, it creates about 0.8 metric tons of CO2 compared to 2.4 metric tons of CO2 to make 1 metric ton of oil-based plastic. We love to see an improvement over traditional plastic!
Resource usage
According to Statista, “In 2022, the total agricultural land area that was used in the production of bioplastics amounted to approximately 0.8 million hectares. It is projected that this area will increase to almost three million hectares by 2027. This would account for approximately 0.058 percent of global agricultural area.”
While it’s great that this number is low, I think we should be working on advancing technology to use more byproducts like corn husks, banana peels, and other food waste versus growing food to turn it into packaging and throw it away. Maybe compost it. That’s 3 million hectares we could be using to grow food to feed ourselves. That’s 3 million hectares of fertilizer usage and water usage just to grow disposable packaging.
Recyclability….or compostability
Yes, bioplastics CAN be recycled! If they have the same plastic code as other plastics that are accepted in your area. If an oil-based plastic is a #1, that means it’s polyethylene. If a bioplastic is a #1, that means it’s BioPET, bio-polyethylene. This means that they are chemically compatible and can be recycled together. But, that means the recycling rate is the same: around 5% for thin bioplastics and up to 20% likelihood of being recycled for hard bioplastics.
But, bioplastics can be composted too! Sorta. This has so many nuances to it, if you’d like me to make a full, updated video on bioplastics, let me know, but you can check out this old version for now to learn more. Most bioplastics are commercially compostable and some are home compostable. It should say on the packaging how to compost it if it is able to be composted. You do have to be careful about ingredients though. Some bioplastics are not made from 100% plants meaning you could put microplastics into your compost. These types of plastic-bioplastic packaging make me so angry. They are difficult to recycle, should not be composted, and may just end up in the landfill.
The main issue with composting is that it is not universally available either commercial compost or home compost. This means that even if you use bioplastics if it’s not recyclable and you don’t have access to compost, it has to end up in the landfill.
End of Life
As we just discussed, if the bioplastic can’t be recycled and you don’t have access to compost, it has to end up in the landfill. This sucks, but it’s not the end of the world for me since creating bioplastics is less harmful to create than oil-based plastics. It surely isn’t the best solution, but it’s not the worst. Of course, we should compost every chance we get (learn more here about how to set up a compost) since it has valuable nutrients.
But, if a bioplastic is 100% plant-based and it ends up in the environment as litter, it will break down quickly and fully making it less risky if it were to end up as pollution. Again, though, only if it’s fully plant-based which isn’t always the case.
Pros:
If made from food waste, it’s a very low waste option
Can be composted commercially, sometimes at home
Fewer emissions than traditional plastic
Not breakable
Cons:
Not everyone has access to commercial compost (or even backyard compost)
It’s easy to greenwash with bioplastics. Some still contain petroleum-based plastic which can lead to bioplastics in our compost
Sometimes not accepted for recycling since it is different from oil-based plastics
Valuable resources we could use for food being thrown away
Rating
Emissions - 7/10
Resource usage - 4/10
Recyclability (and compostability) - 3/10
End of Life - 3/10
Durability - 10/10
Reusability - 3/10
Total: 30/60
Metal
I’m sure many of us in the eco-movement see metal as a great material. I do, at least. So, let’s dig in and see if it’s really all it’s cracked up to be.
How is it made?
Keep in mind for this post, we are talking about single-use packaging. Stuff that food and drinks come in. That will make sense as to why I brought that up in a moment. According to the Food Packaging Forum, "Food and beverage packaging made of aluminum consists of alloys of >90% aluminum with other metals, such as copper, zinc, and manganese. Steel cans are produced from tin-coated steel, also called tinplate, or electrolytic chromium-coated steel. Direct contact between the metal and the food can destroy the integrity of the packaging and change the properties of the food. Therefore, metal packaging is often coated with an organic polymer preventing these unwanted interactions.”
So, this usually-plastic layer IS necessary for most food and drink containers to prevent the cans from degrading too soon. This layer used to be made of BPA which was shown to transfer into the food and be harmful to us to consume. Thankfully, BPA is being phased out, but this is something to keep in mind.
Emissions
This is where metal takes a hit. According to Reuters, to create 1 metric ton of metal creates 11 metric tons of CO2. Remember, plastic was just 2 metric tons of CO2. This is not good. But, that is creating raw metal, which is to be expected, it’s a resource-heavy process. Thankfully, recycling metal reduces emissions by 58%. Unfortunately, that is still 6.38 metric tons of CO2. It takes a lot of energy to melt metal. As I’ve said time and time again in this post, no packaging option is perfect.
Resource usage
Unfortunately aluminum and steel are not renewable resources. At least not as fast as we need it to be. The earth could create more but it will take millennia, perhaps longer. This means that the faster we extract it all from the earth, the faster we run out. Thankfully, recycling is extremely valuable as we will discover in a moment. But as we already saw with emissions, it takes a lot of energy to create metal from new or recycled meaning it takes oil or coal to heat, water to cool down, and other resources along the way.
Recyclability
Metals, particularly steel and aluminum, are extremely valuable and will almost always be accepted for recycling. They are even more valuable to recycle since they are infinitely recycled, unlike plastic and paper. This means that no matter how many times you melt down the metal and recast it, it will always be the same volume. Paper and plastic lose volume the more you recycle it without adding new materials.
Recycling metal is also extremely valuable due to the decrease in energy usage to melt down old metal as opposed to harvesting new materials for use. Not only valuable to recyclers but to you! Some states and countries will PAY you to recycle metal. According to Statista, around 70% of metal was recycled in the US in 2021. That’s a great step above plastic! It really comes down to how much cheaper and efficient it is to recycle metal, unlike plastic.
End of Life
Since metal is the most widely accepted for recycling and the most commonly recycled item, the chances of it ending up in the landfill statistically is only 30% which is a huge step up from plastics. So, PLEASE recycle your metal packaging. But, even if it ends up in the environment, it will not break down into harmful bits and pieces. Most metals, while refined, will break down quite naturally in the environment.
Pros:
Infinitely recyclable and has a very high recycling rate
Easily reusable
Cheap for recyclers to recycle and can even make you money
Cons:
New metal can be harmful to mine and create (so support recycled metal)
The most pollutive to create, even from recycled materials
Non-renewable resource
Rating
Emissions - 1/10
Resource usage - 5/10
Recyclability - 9/10
End of Life - 5/10
Durability - 10/10
Reusability - 7/10
Total: 37/60
Paper
Paper packaging is really not all that common since it can’t hold liquids and it is breathable which can lead to products getting bad quicker. But, it is common for things like pasta, mushrooms, and bags at the checkout line. Let’s get into it!
How is it made?
Sorry if I’m breaking the news to you, but paper comes from trees. And, if you didn’t know, trees take decades to grow which means decades of water and fertilizer. There are other options such as bamboo, too. But, for the sake of this video, tree-paper is the most common so we will focus on that. Trees are cut down, chipped, and the chips are turned into wood pulp. It is then washed to get rid of any dirt and bugs, and bleached to make it the shiny white paper we all know and (maybe) love today. From there is it sized either to become writing paper, toilet paper, napkins, grocery bags, you name it. Now, it’s the paper that you will be buying on the shelf. Cartons, thin cardboard such as cereal and pasta boxes, are similar but thicker and not bleached. Corrugated cardboard is different than all of this but similar enough for the sake of argument.
Emissions
Despite this long process, especially the years of growing a tree, paper is not that pollutive to create. For every 1 metric ton of paper created, it emits around 15-63kg of CO2. That’s less than 0.1 metric ton of CO2 to make it easier to compare to metal and plastic. This is great news!
The best part about trees, too, is they sequester carbon while they’re growing. Since trees “breathe” in CO2 to grow, they remove CO2 from the air and store it in the ground. As you can see, this process nearly makes the creation of paper carbon neutral.
Resource usage
Okay, now for the downside of paper. Not only does it take a lot of water to grow the tree, but it takes water to make paper, too. Here is how you can recycle paper at home and see how much water it uses. According to the University of Illinois, it takes about 1.5 cups of water to create just one sheet of paper. That’s a lot of water, 47 gallons per ream of printer paper to be exact.
Paper is also one of the most commonly used items, not just for packaging, but for toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins. We use it for all sorts of cleaning. Think about all the books that are created every year and all the notebooks and printers in all of the offices and schools. We use a LOT of paper. From Jan 1 to Jan 17, 2024, we’ve produced 19 million tons of paper worldwide. 19 million tons in just 17 days. According to World Wildlife, this “accounts for 13–15% of total wood consumption and uses between 33–40% of all industrial wood traded globally.”
And paper is still harvested unsustainably today in the form of mono-crops, planting non-native, water-intensive species, cutting down habitats, and destroying biodiversity. Yes, there are steps in place to reduce this such as the Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, I’m sure you’ve seen their logo on some paper packaging. This makes recycling even more important, but is it successful?
Recyclability/Compostability
In 2022, paper recycling rates were around 68% in the US. That’s good! Now, I’m unsure if this is total paper produced versus recycled or not. If so, that would mean that the remaining 32% would be things like toilet paper and tissues which are not recyclable anyway. But, it could also mean that out of 100% of paper that went to recycling facilities, aka all recyclable paper, only 68% was recycled.
As I just said, paper recycling is of utmost importance to protect habitats and preserve resources like water. Yes, creating paper, even from virgin resources is not very pollutive, and growing trees is very important, but this is why we look at more than just emissions. So, recycle your paper, it’s successful!
Not to mention, paper can also be composted. Composting is also extremely valuable as it turns plant waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can also be reused. Composting is essentially recycling for natural resources.
Should you recycle or compost paper? I think it depends. I think it’s best to compost brown paper, aka undyed and unbleached paper. It’s healthier for you if you’re putting that compost in your garden. But, shiny paper and bleached paper, I think it’s best to recycle that since it wouldn’t compost the best, and recycling paper is still important to reduce deforestation.
End of Life
With recycling rates that high and with composting as a backup plan, I’d say paper has a pretty good end-of-life. Even if the paper does end up in the environment, it breaks down the quickest among all of these other materials and will not cause harm to the environment if it does end up as pollution.
Pros:
Can be easily recycled OR composted
Lightweight
Can be reused and upcycled at home for packaging, crafts, etc
Trees sequester carbon as they grow
Cons:
Can cause deforestation if not harvested in sustainable ways (support recycled and FSC-grown paper)
Takes large amounts of resources to grow trees (support recycled or bamboo paper)
Rating
Emissions - 9/10
Resource usage - 6/10
Recyclability - 9/10
End of Life - 9/10
Durability - 6/10
Reusability - 5/10
Total: 45/60
Glass
I’m sure every single environmentalist at one point thought glass was the savior of all the materials. It’s reusable, it’s non-toxic, it’s aesthetically pleasing. But is it really that sustainable? Let’s find out.
How is it made?
Glass is made from sand, limestone, and soda ash. I don’t like how Glass Alliance Europe says it, though. They say that it is “made from natural and abundant raw materials.” While it is natural, I would not say abundant. Okay, it IS technically, but sand is vital to the ecosystems we are harvesting it from to make glass. And, if we keep using it, will run out and will cause habitat loss and harm.
Not to mention, it takes huge amounts of energy to heat the sand, etc. up to melt it and form it into glass. According to Corning, that temperature is actually “roughly 1700°C (3090°F), which is approximately the same temperature a space shuttle reaches as it re-enters earth's atmosphere.”
Let’s see how many emissions that create.
Emissions
For one 500ml bottle, it creates about 503g of carbon dioxide. That’s about 1/2 of a kilogram which really isn’t a lot, but that’s just one bottle. According to Taylor and Francis Online, 85-92% of the carbon footprint of glass is from the heating process to turn the sand into glass. They found that recycling glass can reduce emissions by 37% as well.
Resource usage
We’ve already talked a lot about energy and emissions, so let’s talk about biodiversity and the habitat impact of harvesting sand. Sand is actually the second-most used resource on the planet behind water at over 50 billion tons every year. This is leading to a sand shortage. The sand for glass can come from anywhere including rivers, lakes, and ocean beaches. Most of the time, silica-quartz-rich sand is the industry standard. This means a lot of beaches have too much salt and shells to use to make glass, so they’re safe from destruction. But, that does mean the few silica-quartz-rich beaches we have are at the most risk for total destruction to create more glass.
Recyclability
According to the EPA, around 31% of glass in the US gets recycled and what goes to the landfill accounts for 5% of total landfill waste for the year which is over 7 million tons. This just goes to show you that once again, though recycling is very valuable and reduces emissions and energy usage, that does not always equate to high recyclability rates.
Why is glass not commonly accepted? Two main reasons: it’s heavy and it’s breakable. The heaviness of glass means it takes a lot of energy to transport it from collection facilities to recyclers. Especially in rural areas. For example, when I lived in Spokane, we did not have glass recycling since the closest glass recycler was likely in Seattle, 5 hours away. That would take so many trucks so much energy to transport 5 hours one way across a mountain range. It’s just not worth it, it would waste so much money and probably create more emissions at that distance.
Secondly, it’s breakable. This makes it a hazard for the people who sort our waste. The last thing recyclers want is liability and they can easily avoid it by not accepting glass which can easily break in transit and in-house.
End of Life
Glass is easily reusable but most of us do not treat it as such. It would be really cool to see companies go back to a 20th-century model of refilling their glass bottles. They do this in other countries, but in the US, we love a good disposable item so glass is rarely reused commercially. The best thing we can do it reuse it at home or give it away to thrift stores bulk stores, and other places that may use them like small businesses.
Yes, glass is recyclable, but recycling is not a solution. Especially since glass is not widely recycled and it still takes a huge amount of energy to recycle it anyway.
If glass does end up in the environment, while it will not release any harmful byproducts like plastic, it is unknown how long it will take glass to break down in nature. Glass, while breakable, is also extremely durable and will last in the elements for a long, long time (another reason we should reuse it more).
Pros:
Probably the easiest to reuse
Reduces energy to recycle
Non-toxic to our health
Cons:
The most breakable and dangerous if it is broken
Can cause sand-biome destruction and habitat loss due to over-usage (support recycled glass)
Very heavy, increasing emissions
Not commonly accepted for recycling outside of metropolitan and suburban areas
Rating
Emissions - 4/10
Resource usage - 3/10
Recyclability - 3/10
End of Life - 4/10
Durability - 5/10
Reusability - 10/10
Total: 29/60
Cartonboard (aka TetraPak)
I did a full post/video about TetraPak in full if you’d like to check it out after this, but we will get into the short of it right now. TetraPak is the brand name and cartonboard is generically how it’s marketed. It’s like Kleenex vs tissue.
How is it made?
Well, it’s 70% paper! Sounds great, right? Yes, that is good especially considering Tetrapak has increasingly started to use FSC-certified paper and recycled paper. But, what about the other 30%? Well, that’s plastic and metal. It’s a combined package rendering it very difficult to recycle, which we will get to later. It is an exterior of shiny paper, a middle layer of usually aluminum metal to keep its shape, and an interior layer of plastic to keep the liquid in. That’s a lot going on.
Photo from Squarespace
Emissions
Since it is 70% paper, 70% of its emissions come from paper. This is good news since trees sequester a lot of carbon in their lives. This is why cartons are becoming so popular. While it contains some plastic, it’s mostly paper which reduces its overall carbon footprint while still being able to hold liquids. But there are still emissions that come from creating the plastic and metal layers and if they don’t use recycled materials, that does add up. See above for more information on their carbon footprints.
Resource usage
Again, since it is 70% paper, 70% of its resources come from paper. Please see above for full details on paper, but in short, it takes 1.5 cups of water to create one sheet of paper and can also lead to deforestation due to the large amount of land used to grow trees.
Please also see details about metal and plastic above for details on their carbon footprints.
Recyclability
I’ll let Recycle More explain it better:
“because of the multiple layers of the several types of materials (i.e.: paper, plastic, and aluminum foil) bound with adhesive, it makes these products difficult to recycle. Many recycling service providers do not have the capacity or the technology to properly sort these materials, or the markets to sell them, which limits the recycling options. For facilities that do accept these types of cartons to be recycled, they will be separated by a certain process called hydropulping at the recycling facility. This process separates the paper layer from the aluminum foil and the outer plastic layers and is then recycled and used for other purposes.”
The good news, it is becoming more and more accepted for recycling. My mom’s neighborhood in Ohio just got access to carton recycling, yay! It’s becoming more widespread which is good since cartons are becoming the new hot item for packaging. They do have a 20% recycling rate, which is good, but we also have to consider the recycling rate vs the amount that is even accepted for recycling.
Photo from Squarespace
End of Life
Since it is a mixed material, it is hard to truly recycle cartons and use them again as a similar product. Instead, they are downcycled most of the time. This is better than landfills, but it’s not the best since that means that cartons cannot be recycled back into cartons, new cartons have to be made from new materials.
And, since it contains plastic, it means it can cause harm if it ends up in the environment as litter.
Pros:
Lightweight
Non-breakable
Becoming widely accepted for recycling
Uses less plastic
Cons:
Can’t actually be recycled, it is downcycled instead
Made of plastic, paper, and metal making it resource intensive to create
Rating
Emissions - 5/10
Resource usage - 5/10
Recyclability - 4/10
End of Life - 3/10
Durability - 9/10
Reusability - 1/10
Total: 27/60
Photo from Squarespace
Okay, here are the final scores
Keep in mind this rating is arbitrary and my opinion. Read the facts above and feel free to make your own conclusions!
Paper: 45
Metal: 37
Bioplastic: 30
Glass: 29
TetraPak/Carton: 27
Hard Plastic: 26
Thin Plastic: 20
Going into this post, I would’ve definitely said paper and metal are among the best, but clearly they are still far from perfect. I’m glad to see, though, that my guess is now backed up by facts. Bioplastic definitely surprised me but the rest was as predicted as well.
I hope that this helps you become a better consumer, reuser, and recycler.
Of course, you can always opt for package free ;)
Keep in mind that some of these have the best recycling rates, some create the least amount of emissions, and some produce the fewest resources to create while others may be more durable and more reusable. I think every material has its place!
Please keep recycling, as bad as the rates are, keep doing it and keep doing it better. Make sure your recycling is clean, dry, secured, and that you are following recycling rules. Yes, the recycling problems in the US are largely due to money, but we have an impact as well. If we all keep recycling terribly, it certainly won’t get better. We need to improve but so do the corporations.
At the end of the day, remember that recycling is a bandage. Reduce what you consume, reuse what you bring in your home, and then recycle as a last resort (well, landfill as a last resort, but you get me).
Thanks for reading along, as always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)
Emma
I know we didn’t cover it today cause it’s score would be 0, but please for the love of the planet, never use styrofoam if you can help it. Ft. this photo of me using it. No one is perfect, do your best!
