This headline sounds like a classic internet \u201cmyth\u201d designed to attract attention. As your honest friend, I will tell you the truth right from the start: Be careful. Styrofoam really only belongs in boiling water in very specific cases and with great caution, because at high temperatures it can release harmful substances (styrene). Nevertheless, there is one practical DIY trick that DIYers use to recycle this waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is this \u201ctrick\u201d actually about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not about boiling polystyrene into food (that would be a disaster!), but about the process of reducing its volume and shaping it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have a pile of polystyrene from electronics packaging at home, it takes up half the space in the trash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happens: Styrofoam is 98% air. Boiling water (or hot air) causes the air bubbles to escape and the material to \u201cshrink.\u201d
The result: A giant piece of Styrofoam is reduced to a small, hard plastic ball. This way, you can \u201cclean up\u201d a garage full of junk into one small bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trick: Some DIYers use this softened mass to fill holes in masonry or as an improvised sealant that hardens to rock-hardness when cooled.
Better trick: Styrofoam glue (No boiling water)
If you\u2019re looking for a reason to never throw away Styrofoam again, boiling water isn\u2019t the way to go. Try acetone instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pour some acetone (thinner) into a glass jar.
Throw in the polystyrene pieces. They will disappear like magic.
A thick, sticky mass will form.
Uses: It is an extremely strong waterproof glue and sealant for wood, metal or concrete. After the acetone evaporates, only clean, hard plastic remains.
Comparison: Boiling water vs. Acetone
Method Result Main risk
Boiling water Volume reduction, softening. Vapors: At 100 \u00b0C, microplastics are released into the water.
Acetone Liquid glue \/ varnish. Flammability: Must be done outdoors due to vapors.
\u26a0\ufe0f Safety warning (Important!)
If you decide to experiment with hot polystyrene:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Never use a pot in which you cook food for this.
Ventilate. The fumes from heated polystyrene are not something you want to breathe.
Beware of burns. Softened polystyrene sticks to your skin like hot wax.
My observation: Most boiling water videos are just visually appealing \u201cbait\u201d. If you really want to use polystyrene, make the aforementioned glue from it using acetone \u2013 it has real uses in the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would you like to know how this \u201chomemade glue\u201d can be used to fix a cracked gutter or a leaking roof?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This headline sounds like a classic internet \u201cmyth\u201d designed to attract attention. As your honest friend, I will tell you the truth right from the start: Be careful. Styrofoam really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nteresting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18530,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18528\/revisions\/18530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}