<![CDATA[The widespread use of styrofoam as food and beverage packaging is a very urgent issue to study, especiallyregarding to human health. This polymer is thought to be easily degraded by beam radiation to producemonomers that are easily oxidized to carcinogenic styrene oxides. Studies on the effects of sun and UV rayson plastic for food and beverage packaging have been carried out. Some styrofoam samples are made in theform of thin films and some are made in slabs. The samples were exposed to sunlight and the others wereexposed to ultraviolet light using 20 watts UV lamps for 10, 25, and 40 days. The effects of radiation onstyrofoam were characterized using a tensile test, FTIR, and physical observation. The results showed thatboth sun and ultraviolet radiation can cause degradation of styrofoam. Radiation of sunlight and UV lighton styrofoam generate a decrease in tensile strength, an increase in the relative concentration of styreneoxide, a change in the color of the sample from white to yellow, and cracks arise. The longer the time of sunand ultraviolet radiation can accelerate styrofoam plastics degradation.]]>
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