I work for a company in the U.S. that receives hundreds of boxes a day that have lots of styrofoam in them due to needing insulation to keep blood samples frozen. When each box is cut open, hundreds of little pieces of styrofoam float around in the air. When we throw out the boxes in the dumpster outside, little flecks fly everywhere, which end up washing into our local river that goes to the ocean. This is not biodegradable styrofoam - it's plastic - and it breaks down into microplastics over time. My company is quite literally creating a constant stream of microplastic into the ocean. Imagine the millions of companies worldwide doing the exact same thing, at much worse volumes, with worse materials. We're going to make the ocean uninhabitable for so many creatures and ourselves if we don't change our ways; ie switch to biodegradable materials.