Comments on: Recycling Mystery: Expanded Polystyrene

By: Marji

Marji — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:39:26 +0000

My son runs a small fish business and makes very little money. He relies on the medical and food service styrofoam shipping boxes he can scrounge to make any profit at all. He is constantly on the lookout for them. If anyone wants to help recycle these boxes and has coolers, feel free to email. Usually the people who get these fish also sell or trade fish and will then reuse the carton again. Since the fish are bagged, there is no harm to the fish by reusing the cartons. Now that energy is being used to crush and reform all the styrofoam boxes, we are having trouble getting them, even though we can safely reuse them with no additional expended energy (other than our own in getting them and peeling the labels off). A better way to recycle these containers is to reuse them in the shape they are in before recycling them. I’ve seen piles of brand new containers that have been sent to recycling that we can no longer get. They can easily be reused by many industries without being crushed and reformed. Its become a racket. No one sells used stryrofoam shipping boxes.

By: ZaCloud

ZaCloud — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:46:28 +0000

Washable, reusable plastic dishes are better than using styrofoam dishes or carry-out cases. Though glass or ceramic would be best of course, but plastic is less breakable. The more corn-based and plant-based plastics we get in use though, the better; chemical based plastics leech chemicals.

The process of creating polystyrene uses benzene, which is a known and proven carcinogen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene#Health_and_fire_hazards And it’s been proven that when styrofoam is heated or broken, it releases the benzene into the surrounding air, or the food or drink it is in contact with. This is why I would rather NOT use it in potting soil (I dig up soil from the woods instead of buying it, or use my own compost), and try NOT to use it to carry food or coffee.

While I applaud folks for reusing it, keep the chemicals in mind when you make your decisions. It’s ridiculous what the EPA and FDA and such allow with known harmful substances. Can’t place trust in all that they deem “safe”.

By: Environmental Stewardship

Environmental Stewardship — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:49:49 +0000

Manny et. al.,
If you want to drop off the foam packaging, foam food service products (used cups, plates, hinge trays), school lunch trays, foam egg cartons, meat trays, etc., Dart Container offers several polystyrene foam drop off locations that are open to the public (including one location less than 100 miles from Santa Rosa in Lodi, CA).
They also offer foam recycling programs to restaurants and and other food service operators that would like to be more evnironmentally responsible with their foam foodservice products.
Here is the web address for more information: http://www.dart.biz/web/environ.nsf/pages/enrecy.html
Finally, did you know that paper cups are lined with plastic and according to Starbucks own website their paper hot cups “cannot be recycled in many paper reycling systems because of their plastic liner…” (http://www.starbucks.com/SHAREDPLANET/environmentalInternal.aspx?story=paperCups)
At least foam cups can be recycled and it sounds like Dart is offering a viable option to the food service industry.

By: Manny

Manny — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:17:38 +0000

Styrofoam peanuts are no problem. Any mailing business will take them. The problem is what to do with formed styrofoam that is used to package electronics and other merchandise. Here, in Santa Rosa, CA, it goes into the landfill. I looked on earth911 for a recycling place, and it came up with nothing. I don’t know what distance earth911 searches. If I can find a place as much as 100 miles or even more, if it’s a place I might pass on some trip, I can save the styrofoam and drop it off on that trip. Any help?

By: Reuse the plastic!!! « the Opposite of Disappearing

Reuse the plastic!!! « the Opposite of Disappearing — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:15:20 +0000

[...] But the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers reported that 69 million pounds of EPS were recycled in 2008 alone. That’s an astonishing amount considering that EPS is 98 percent air. So, we know that it does happen, but we also know you can sometimes have it around the house and you’re not sure what the next step is. [...]

By: laura rodriguez

laura rodriguez — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:47:46 +0000

Casen et. al.,
I’m an elementary school teacher. Last year I noticed the styrofoam trays that were being wasted (sent to landfill) from our cafeteria, and started a school recycling program for our polystyrene food trays. My district has tried similar programs with cardboard trays, but the local recylcling center backed out because the kids can’t get the card board clean enough. A number of school’s (and many businesses) currently send cardboard to landfill because they think it is more ecofriendly because it is biodegradable. (sp?)
Anyway, as a result of our tray recycling we were able to cancel a day of trash pickup, and reduce our school’s refuse output by 20%. The trays we recycle can be made into; CD cases, video cases, computer cases, picture frames, plastic lumber, computer equipment, insulation, agricultural trays/containers, etc. The widely held assumption currently is that polystyrene fills landfills forever, though actually it is only a “pre-step” on the way to other longterm use produts like the ones above. Polystyrene only fills landfills because people don’t recycle it into the other plastic products that they accept as necessary. According to my research since the onset of our program, styrofoam is less wasteful in terms of energy, and water usage the production/recycling processes as compared to cardboard products. . . . and I’ve also heard that fewer harmful emissions are produced in the production/recycling and transport processes compared to cardboard alternatives.

When we started, all we knew is that we could get the trays clean, and that we didn’t want to send them to landfill.

Overall, at my school, since last January, we’ve been able to cut down our contributions to used landfill space by quite a bit, and we’ve also saved our district 20% of our refuse bill. We plan to dut back another 20% over the course of the next 2 months through other processes.

It seems so simple. Is there something I’m overlooking? Please send me any information you have about polystyrene that I am unaware of.

I think most consumers would participate in any recycling program offered by businesses (fast food etc.), and if elementary students can cut refuse by 20% in 4 or so months, would similar programs be helpful on a broader basis? Is styrofoam getting an old fashioned “bad rap”? Would it be reasonable to see it a pre-step in a longer term stream of products. Maybe the time time has come for us to re-think a few things, or educate people about green practices and the larger green picture.

Please help me out by sending me any information you have about polystyrene (#6) that I am unaware of.

Thanks,
lrods818@comcast.net

By: Twitter Trackbacks for Recycling Mystery: Styrofoam - Earth911.com [earth911.com] on Topsy.com

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:03:47 +0000

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By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:50:08 +0000

I got bit by the recycling bug bigtime about 2 years ago. I researched where I could recycle foam, and found a place locally in Central NJ that accepts large block, similar to what you’d get from computers, etc. This totally came in handy when we remodeled our kitchen this year and all of the cabinets were shipped with some type of foam. My entire Volvo was crammed with foam, but it was worth it.

By: RIch

RIch — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:20:16 +0000

In my area, the local coffeeshops (Dunkin Donuts) have a tendency to place a plastic cup of iced-coffee inside a styrofoam cup to prevent wet hands when the plastic cup “sweats”! This is a ridiculous practice. Some places do it automatically (they’re under pressure to serve their customers quickly).

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:53:12 +0000

Another alternative to reusing styrofoam is in your garden. Most potting soil comes with those white little bits which is actually either styrofoam or a similar component. It adds aeration to the soil, helping plants grow. You can chop, cut, or crumble bits of foam and add them to the soil yourself. Since your styrofoam will most likely end up in the ground at a landfill, why not at least put it in your backyard to help plants grow?

Also, many landfill facilities have free tours. I visited a local one that took us through the whole gamete of the trash being brought in and filtered to various locations within the site for reuse/recycle or disposal via incinerator or underground. It is quite an education on what happens with our trash. Most people don’t give it a second thought other than what day they have to take their trashcans to the curb for pickup.