X About This Article – Article Synopsis Call your local recycling program to locate a drop-off location for Styrofoam in your region. Check with local grocery shops, since some of them, like Publix, carry Styrofoam recycling bins. Alternatively, you can create your own local program if none are available.
Where can I dispose of Styrofoam in my area?
On all the recycling containers at our garbage facility and in the information we receive from the persons who collect it, it states that Styrofoam cannot be recycled. What are our options? Asked by Joe Bates, Gr. ’71, Noblesville, Ind. It’s encouraging to learn that you still intend to utilize the fluffy white material.
- I myself have assumed that the only choice is the garbage can.
- However, with no effort, it may be sold, recycled, or even turned into glue.
- Yes, glue.
- First, a clarification is in need.
- What we commonly refer to as “styrofoam” is expanded polystyrene, or EPS.
- Dow Chemical Company’s trademark “Styrofoam” refers to a substance that is comparable to, but distinct from, EPS.
That moldy white substance encircling a brand-new television and those irritating packaging peanuts? This is EPS. Even if you may discard EPS in order to access its contents, it is imperative that you do not send it to a landfill, where it will remain for a very long time.
Although not biodegradable, EPS is recyclable; nonetheless, collecting organizations cannot cheaply transport it. However, with some work, it may be utilized more effectively. Following are three ideas: Sell it! Nothing beats making money from garbage. The American Chemistry Council maintains a list of firms that recycle EPS (and other forms of plastic).
I was quoted $2.80 a pound for EPS with a label that read “CA Redemption Value,” which is not chump change for a graduate student like me. If you discover a reasonable price, you can even consider starting a local recycling program. The Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers provides a roadmap for getting started.
- During current economic recession, completing a kind deed may help you supplement a few meals.
- Donate the item.
- Enter “polystyrene” and your zip code on Earth911.com, and it will direct you to the nearest drop-off location.
- The Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers (AFPR) has compiled a list of facilities that will take EPS via mail.
However, the EPS will be recycled into office supplies or insulation instead of being discarded in a landfill, saving you money on petrol or shipping costs (up to $9 for delivery, according to AFPR). In typical bothersome fashion, though, these recycling sites do not take these troublesome packaging peanuts.
- The Plastic Loose Fill Council can tell you whether there is a drop-off location in your city or provide you with a list of locations in your state.
- Alternatively, you may call their Peanut Hotline at (800) 828-2222 for the same information.
- An automated lady provided me with the addresses of the three centers nearest to me.
Add glue to it. Your grandmother gives you a vase, but, only half of the EPS mold is supplied. Instead of a vase, twenty pieces of porcelain are provided. Enter d-limonene, an oil derived from citrus fruit peels that is frequently used for cleaning. If you combine this “orange oil” with the EPS, you will obtain a sticky mixture that will assist you in reassembling the vase.
