FYI, There's A Big Problem With The Halal Snack Pack Craze

    It's a threat to the environment.

    Mark Di Stefano
    by Mark Di Stefano

    Political Editor, Australia

    You've probably heard by now that Australia is absolutely sick for halal meat shaved over a bed of hot chips and covered in a trio of sauces. The emergence of the Halal Snack Pack (and its Facebook page) might be one of the best things of 2016.

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    But there's one HUGE problem. This ...

    Ratth / Getty Images

    Halal Snack Packs are regularly served in these polystyrene packages known within the takeaway industry as "clamshells".

    Of course, HSPs can be served on plates or in pizza boxes, but more often than not they're laid up in foam packaging.

    It's got some people worried. BuzzFeed News spoke to marine scientist Dr Jennifer Lavers who said polystyrene clamshells are terrible for the environment.

    Dean Lewins / AAPIMAGE

    "Polystyrene is a massive issue because there is so much of it, we use it briefly and then we toss it away," said Lavers.

    "It ends up in the marine environment and shatters into tiny little pieces incredibly quickly. Then because it is so lightweight it floats on the surface."

    "Then because it’s on the surface sea birds mistake it for prey and consume it. When we look back in time to the early 2000s we were almost never seeing polystyrene or plastic. Now the foam and plastics are becoming a plague, they [animals] mistakenly consume it and creates a huge amounts of problems."

    That's not all. Environment campaigner Dave West from Boomerang Alliance said polystyrene clamshells should be totally banned because they threaten the environment and our food.

    Thamkc / Getty Images

    "At a certain temperature polystyrene starts to lose or leak the chemical in its base, which is styrene. That’s about as nasty a carcinogenic as you can get and it contaminates your food with a poison," said West.

    "It’s not that you’re going to have enough styrene released in a single meal and you’ll be poisoned. It’s bio-accumulative and the poison passes through the food chain. There are about 40 councils in the US and Canada which have already banned polystyrene."

    Australia's first female Muslim MP, Mehreen Faruqi, told BuzzFeed News that she was amazed at the HSP craze, but likened polystyrene to Pauline Hanson. "Much like Pauline Hanson, styrofoam never seems to go away," she said.

    Richard Milnes / NEWZULU

    “I’d like to see sustainable packaging that locks in the flavour and doesn't get soggy,” said the Greens MP.

    So next time you're going for an HSP, think about the sea birds and all that plastic seeping into your delicious food. Ask for an alternative!

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/HalalSnackPackAppreciationSociety/

    Because there's more than one way to smash an HSP.

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