Corporate Responsibility

Styron Responds to Marketplace by Replacing Flame Retardant

Consumer products that contain flame retardants deliver an important public safety benefit.⁽⁵⁾ In fact, studies have shown that the use of flame retardants in consumer products saves hundreds of lives each year and allows up to fifteen times more time for people to escape when a fire occurs.⁽⁶⁾ 

For many years, Styron has offered several ignition resistant grades of STYRON™ Polystyrene Resin (IR-PS) that contained the flame retardant known as decabromodiphenyl ether (DecaBDE). IR-PS offers exceptional performance and low cost in electronics applications, such as housings for televisions and other electronic appliances where there is the potential for the product to overheat.

As a part of Styron’s ongoing commitment to EH&S, Styron continually monitors the environmental, product safety, regulatory and marketplace trends associated with Styron’s products and the additives used in them, including DecaBDE. As a part of this monitoring, it became apparent that there were several marketplace concerns about the potential environmental impact of DecaBDE.

In response, Styron began an intensive research effort to identify alternative flame retardants that could be used in polystyrene resins even though the company was confident that the scientific data supported the safe use of DecaBDE as a flame-retardant additive.

As a result of that effort, STYRON IR-PS resins previously containing DecaBDE have been replaced globally with IR-PS resins that no longer use DecaBDE.

Styron is pleased that the company has been able to recognize and respond to the marketplace concerns regarding DecaBDE by identifying and introducing a replacement technology that delivers high quality IR-PS products that meet the needs of the electronics marketplace.