Of the 40 million tons of plastic waste produced in the US in 2021, 85% ended up in landfills. The situation is now at a dire juncture, as plastic is polluting our oceans, land, and even showing up in human blood and the food we eat.

Plastic is quite possibly the scourge of the modern age, a dark legacy we’ll be hard-pressed to put behind us for generations to come. It is difficult and costly to recycle due to the many types of plastic in circulation and the need for multiple systems to collect, transport, sort, degrease, and sanitize each one.

If you’re a restaurant owner still using polystyrene containers for takeout packaging, you likely already know it’s not sustainable. Polystyrene has long been known as one of the most environmentally harmful materials out there—and yet some still use it because it’s also the cheapest.