EDITOR,

While I respect your columnist Christina D.B. Frankel‘s commitment to the environment, there are several errors or omissions in her column “Living Green: Polystyrene (foam) is a bad deal” (June 3 Tracy Press). Fortunately, there is good news on polystyrene foam and a new way for Tracy residents to show their commitment to the environment.

My company, Dart Container Corp., has partnered with the city of Tracy and your local waste hauler to develop a recycling system for polystyrene foam for all Tracy households. Starting this summer, residents will be able to put their clean polystyrene foam into their recycle bins.

The material collected from Tracy will be taken to a Stockton facility to be processed into green building materials that help reduce the demand for lumber. These award-winning green building products are themselves recyclable, leading to a closed-loop system that becomes more efficient over time.

This is truly a win-win for the environment — Tracy residents will be able to reduce the trash going to local landfills as well as help a local employer create “green” jobs.

Polystyrene foam (commonly referred to as Styrofoam, a Dow Chemical Co. trademark) is prevalent because it performs well — it also is cost-effective, mainly because it is 95 percent air.

The production, use and disposal of polystyrene foam generate less solid waste than other packaging materials. Indeed, polystyrene foam is a safe, sanitary and effective material that also happens to be a sound environmental choice, especially when recycled.

Instead of causing alarm with unsupported allegations, the truly green choice is to keep food prices low, create local jobs and reduce the amount of trash going to landfills by recycling your polystyrene foam.

• Michael Westerfield, director of recycling, Dart Container Corp.