Is Styrofoam suitable as a building material for beehives?
Geert Staemmler, beekeeper, from 23812 Wahlstedt.
“The organic beekeeping rejects polystyrene as a building material for beehives, because organic beekeepers in the hive construction compare the energy and ecological balances of the different building materials with each other. Holistic considerations of the environmentally friendly raw material extraction for the hive construction are included as well as the demand for closed material cycles and longevity of the product. That can be added back to the raw material cycle after decades of use. Natural beekeeping has been used in beekeeping for ages; just think of straw, moss, clay and the like. Straw is the best "material" for building prey (indoor climate, value for money of the material), but they are very time-consuming to build (expensive) and exposed to mechanical influences (e.g. mice, woodpeckers) as unprotected as e.g. the Styrofoam. The lifespan is only sufficient if the hives are protected against weathering (apiaries etc.). Mosses and other fibrous fillers have not proven themselves because they mostly absorb moisture and thus the insulating effect is over. Loam is too heavy and sensitive to the weather for prey production in our regions.
Wood, like straw, has been used as a building material in beekeeping for centuries in Europe, with all its advantages and disadvantages, such as universally workable, renewable raw material or the relatively high weight (compared to polystyrene and straw), must be protected against weathering with wood preservatives or with relatively high expenditure (cow dung in beekeeping, apiaries, free-standing stands, etc.), in my experience, wooden hives are wet and cold Weather conditions too damp inside if the peoples are not very strong. I bought my first Segeberger magazine loots in 1971 and they are still in use. If they are destroyed or become unusable due to carelessness, I can recycle them, so the above arguments can also be used for polystyrene.”
What is Styrofoam?
It is expanded polystyrene rigid foam, the starting material is styrene and pentane, from which polymerizable expandable polystyrene is produced in closed systems. The actual foam production takes place in a simple process, in which the blowing agent-containing polystyrene granulate is heated with water vapor and foamed by the blowing agent into closed-cell particles (the Styrofoam balls containing a lot of air). Styrofoam is a biologically neutral product that is not expected to have any negative effects on living organisms. The decades of use of Styrofoam in agriculture, medicine, packaging for food and the use of apiary for over 40 years is a testament to this. Styrofoam is chemically neutral, it is neither water-soluble nor releases water-soluble substances. In an investigation commissioned by me for styrene in honey, no residues could be detected. Pentane as a blowing agent for Styrofoam is not one of the greenhouse gases because it only has a half-life of 10-15 hours and can only be detected in the atmosphere to 0.000009%. Styrofoam is easy to recycle because it is chemically and physically stable as polystyrene. The used Styrofoam is milled to specific particle sizes in mills and then processed for various re-uses in construction (plasters, lightweight concrete, clay bricks, etc.), as soil improvers in agriculture and horticulture or again to polystyrene granules. Last but not least, Styrofoam can be burned very well in suitable plants and energy can be recovered without the formation of dioxins. The calorific value of polystyrene is 11 kWh / kg and can therefore be easily burned for so-called support firing in waste incineration plants and thus save oil. The requirements of the organic beekeeping described in the first paragraph could be met with the building material Styrofoam. According to Regulation (EG) 1804/99 and Regulation (EWG) No. 2092/91 on organic farming: "... beehives consist mainly of natural materials that cannot contaminate the environment or beekeeping products." Even this regulation would have to be complied with with the building material Styrofoam if this plastic were approved for ecological beekeeping! Beehives made from this building material are durable with little maintenance, light and "homely" for the bees. Styrofoam is widely recognized for its inexpensive manufacture and universal deformability in hive construction. Booties made from this building material are warm and, in the transition period, warmer than wooden magazines.
(Literature proof from the author.)
Our recommendation!!!
When buying Segeberger hive parts, pay attention to the following quality features:
1. The surface must be hard and smooth (thumb pressure test)
2. Pay attention to the weight of the individual parts
3. The density of the seg. Plastic yield is set at 100 g / liter.
1 DN hive part weighs 2,100 kg (without rails), 1,950 kg are still accessible (minimum)
1 roof weighs 1,800 kg (without hole), 1,650 kg (minimum) are still accessible
1 bottom weighs 1,300kg (without wire), 1,200 kg are still accessible (minimum)
Our Segeberger products meet all of these quality criteria!
Is Styrofoam suitable as a building material for beehives? Geert Staemmler, beekeeper, from 23812 Wahlstedt. “The organic beekeeping rejects polystyrene as a building material for beehives,...
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Is Styrofoam suitable as a building material for beehives?
Geert Staemmler, beekeeper, from 23812 Wahlstedt.
“The organic beekeeping rejects polystyrene as a building material for beehives, because organic beekeepers in the hive construction compare the energy and ecological balances of the different building materials with each other. Holistic considerations of the environmentally friendly raw material extraction for the hive construction are included as well as the demand for closed material cycles and longevity of the product. That can be added back to the raw material cycle after decades of use. Natural beekeeping has been used in beekeeping for ages; just think of straw, moss, clay and the like. Straw is the best "material" for building prey (indoor climate, value for money of the material), but they are very time-consuming to build (expensive) and exposed to mechanical influences (e.g. mice, woodpeckers) as unprotected as e.g. the Styrofoam. The lifespan is only sufficient if the hives are protected against weathering (apiaries etc.). Mosses and other fibrous fillers have not proven themselves because they mostly absorb moisture and thus the insulating effect is over. Loam is too heavy and sensitive to the weather for prey production in our regions.
Wood, like straw, has been used as a building material in beekeeping for centuries in Europe, with all its advantages and disadvantages, such as universally workable, renewable raw material or the relatively high weight (compared to polystyrene and straw), must be protected against weathering with wood preservatives or with relatively high expenditure (cow dung in beekeeping, apiaries, free-standing stands, etc.), in my experience, wooden hives are wet and cold Weather conditions too damp inside if the peoples are not very strong. I bought my first Segeberger magazine loots in 1971 and they are still in use. If they are destroyed or become unusable due to carelessness, I can recycle them, so the above arguments can also be used for polystyrene.”
What is Styrofoam?
It is expanded polystyrene rigid foam, the starting material is styrene and pentane, from which polymerizable expandable polystyrene is produced in closed systems. The actual foam production takes place in a simple process, in which the blowing agent-containing polystyrene granulate is heated with water vapor and foamed by the blowing agent into closed-cell particles (the Styrofoam balls containing a lot of air). Styrofoam is a biologically neutral product that is not expected to have any negative effects on living organisms. The decades of use of Styrofoam in agriculture, medicine, packaging for food and the use of apiary for over 40 years is a testament to this. Styrofoam is chemically neutral, it is neither water-soluble nor releases water-soluble substances. In an investigation commissioned by me for styrene in honey, no residues could be detected. Pentane as a blowing agent for Styrofoam is not one of the greenhouse gases because it only has a half-life of 10-15 hours and can only be detected in the atmosphere to 0.000009%. Styrofoam is easy to recycle because it is chemically and physically stable as polystyrene. The used Styrofoam is milled to specific particle sizes in mills and then processed for various re-uses in construction (plasters, lightweight concrete, clay bricks, etc.), as soil improvers in agriculture and horticulture or again to polystyrene granules. Last but not least, Styrofoam can be burned very well in suitable plants and energy can be recovered without the formation of dioxins. The calorific value of polystyrene is 11 kWh / kg and can therefore be easily burned for so-called support firing in waste incineration plants and thus save oil. The requirements of the organic beekeeping described in the first paragraph could be met with the building material Styrofoam. According to Regulation (EG) 1804/99 and Regulation (EWG) No. 2092/91 on organic farming: "... beehives consist mainly of natural materials that cannot contaminate the environment or beekeeping products." Even this regulation would have to be complied with with the building material Styrofoam if this plastic were approved for ecological beekeeping! Beehives made from this building material are durable with little maintenance, light and "homely" for the bees. Styrofoam is widely recognized for its inexpensive manufacture and universal deformability in hive construction. Booties made from this building material are warm and, in the transition period, warmer than wooden magazines.
(Literature proof from the author.)
Our recommendation!!!
When buying Segeberger hive parts, pay attention to the following quality features:
1. The surface must be hard and smooth (thumb pressure test)
2. Pay attention to the weight of the individual parts
3. The density of the seg. Plastic yield is set at 100 g / liter.
1 DN hive part weighs 2,100 kg (without rails), 1,950 kg are still accessible (minimum)
1 roof weighs 1,800 kg (without hole), 1,650 kg (minimum) are still accessible
1 bottom weighs 1,300kg (without wire), 1,200 kg are still accessible (minimum)
Our Segeberger products meet all of these quality criteria!
