styro-hate-a-ma-foam

soon before maven left, we spent a day around town. as our journey was nearing its end, we passed through scotia square and felt like getting something to eat. our first stop was in front of the indian spot. there were no samosas, they had no soymilk for a lassi and i didn't want to waste styrofoam on curry, so i opted for nought. maven ended up enjoying his first ray's falafel. when he asked for water, he got it-- but in a piece of squinchy white pixellated permanance, aka: styrofoam. we were seriously frustrated. we were pissed because we had no choice, it'd already been used/wasted.
in a flash of eager enlightenment, i remembered the sushi place at the end of the hall, so maven relocated closeby while i ordered an avocado roll from the woman inside. she asked if i wanted it for here or to go and i said i didn't care as long as i didn't get styrofoam. so i got it in fucking styrofoam. it was excrutiatingly difficult to enjoy what would normally be such a fresh, luscious treat when i was forced to waste styrofoam, as part of a team, for the second time in one day. i seethed all thu my meal, trying desperately to forget, to etch this in my memory, to at least learn a lesson to be more clear or to never set foot in a mall again.
i hate styrofoam so fucking much and i've hated it for years. i'll be unreasonable. i'll be petulant. i'll be unnecessarily bitchy if i'm about to consume something potentially great, but won't let myself if it's going to be served in or on the timeless white malevolent container. i'm not being pretentious or intentionally difficult-- i hate it for good reason:

-Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 styrofoam coffee cups every year (and we Canadians produce more garbage per capita than do they).
-when it's "recycled," it is not a closed loop — polystyrene cups and other packaging materials are usually recycled into fillers in other plastics, or other items that can not be themselves recycled and are thrown away.
-McDonald's stopped using styrofoam years ago at the outcry of concerned students (it must be evil if the evilest of mcevil's won't touch it).
-styrofoam is actually outlawed in many US states (again, E-VIL!) -it will never decompose. a plastic container will decompose in 50-80 years, a glass bottle in 500 years if you give it time-- but bitchyass polystyrene will kick around for fucking ever.
-toxins leak into the food that styrofoam contains. this can reak havoc on our health.
-it's made from petroleum-- a non-renewable, heavily polluting, quickly disappearing, war-starting "resource."
-as it never decomposes and doesn't always get disposed of properly, styrofoam is a hideous piece of trash that will never leave, it is available for wildlife to choke on or otherwise swallow, therefore clogging animal digestive systems as well as waterways.
-the recycling of styrofoam is thought to be a public relations stunt, as it is technically recyclable, yet only in major centres
-there's only one polystyrene recycling facility in canada (in mississauga) yet even neighbouring toronto asks its residents to throw polystyrene in the garbage.
-styrofoam is ugly and it has a disgusting squeaky sound and mouthfeel.

the only potentially redeeming qualities of styrofoam are:
-styrofoam cups are produced using six times less energy than paper cups (but paper cups are biodegradable).
-cd jewel cases are made from polystyrene, but at least we tend to keep them around (and use the best ones after our other ones crack and essentially become TRASH.

in conclusion, i think the only cool thing to ever be made of styrofoam is this lovely piece by Giuseppe Gabellone, and it is pretty, but i still despise polystyrene (and of course, this piece of art is social commentary).