Any additional depletion will increase the incidence of diseases associated with increased exposure to ultraviolet light due to ozone depletion, including skin cancer and blindness due to cataracts. Dow is also a vocal and prominent advocate of plastics recycling. Along with seven other plastics manufacturers, Dow formed the National Polystyrene Recycling Company, with a goal of recycling 25 percent of the polystyrene used for food service and packaging applications in the United States. It has entered into an arrangement with the U.S. Department of the Interior to promote recycling in U.S. national parks. The program's focus is on recycling plastics.
Plastics are renewable resources, the same as glass, aluminum and paper.
Dow hopes to have recycled plastics returned as picnic tables, park benches and other products. The problem with plastics recycling, however, is that it is not really recycling. Plastics can only be recycled into lower grade plastics. Used styrofoam cups, for example, might be used to make a picnic table, but they cannot be recycled as styrofoam. New styrofoam will have to be manufactured to create new cups.