Millions of pieces of polystyrene are polluting Melbourne’s Yarra River, leaching chemicals into the water and harming marine life according to ABC News.
The majority of this pollution comes from the construction industry where polystyrene is used in “waffle pod” form to fill concrete slabs in residential housing.
A report by the Yarra Riverkeeper Association found that of 80 construction sites within the Yarra River catchment area, 98 per cent of them had polystyrene pollution either on site or in the drains nearby.
What if there was an alternative?
Plastic injection moulding manufacturer Socobell has teamed up with CLEVACO® to produce a more environmentally-friendly solution to polystyrene waffle pods.
Socobell’s project engineer David Paizis says the CLEVA POD® is a like-for-like replacement for traditional polystyrene used in housing construction meeting the Australian Standard AS 2870, but it’s made from recycled plastic.
“Polystyrene makes a mess and is really bad for the environment,” David says. “It also contaminates the concrete, so when they go to demolish a house and separate all the building materials, they can’t recycle the concrete.
