Styrofoam™ is the trademarked name for extruded polystyrene foam, an invention of the Dow Chemical Company that has been in production for more than 50 years.
Nearly anyone who has purchased coffee “to go” has heard the container being referred to as a Styrofoam™ cup.
However, extruded polystyrene has never been used to make disposable coffee cups. For that matter, it’s never been used to make portable picnic coolers either, this is another misconception.
Those products are actually made from expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) NOT EXTRUDED POLYSTYRENE.
Unlike disposable cups and picnic coolers, which are notably white in color and composed of beads packed tightly together, products made from extruded polystyrene are CLOSED CELL,
and typically blue. It is used to make insulation wrap for residential homes, commercial buildings, and plumbing systems.
It is also used in road construction as an insulation layer under pavement to deter the formation of cracks and potholes that occur from seasonal freezing and thawing of the soil beneath.
Urethane could not be used for this purpose because even though it is also closed cell, urethane in constant contact with moisture loses its closed cell properties, this is why you never see
urethane used in any application where it is in constant contact with moisture.
