How To Recycle Styrofoam Products

The word Styrofoam is common usage for all polystyrene products such as cups, food packaging trays, packing peanuts and other packaging materials, but Styrofoam is actually a trademarked polystyrene foam insulation created by the Dow Chemical Company, according to the American Chemical Council. Polystyrene products have very low densities, meaning they are lightweight and largely composed of air. This poses a problem in landfills, where these types of products take up an inordinate amount of space. Recycled polystyrene can be used for a variety of purposes and presents an environmentally conscious alternative to disposing of these products as waste.

Instructions

• 1

  Polystyrene packing peanuts

  Reuse them as packing material. Tear up large chunks of polystyrene into smaller pieces and use them as "homemade" packing material. Save and reuse polystyrene loose fill ("packing peanuts").

• 2

  Call the Peanut Hotline at 800-828-2214 to find a collection site for packing peanuts through the Plastic Loose Fill Council, an organization dedicated to recycling these materials. Packing peanuts can be dropped off at more than 1,500 locations nationwide. You also can visit the website at loosefillpackaging.com to find the collection site nearest you.

• 3

  Visit Earth911.org to find a recycling center that accepts polystyrene in your area. Visit the site and type "polystyrene" and your location into the search bars.

• 4

  Place your polystyrene in a box and mail it to a recycling location.

  Ship your used polystyrene to an Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers (AFPR) national mail-back recycling location. Addresses to which you can ship your polystyrene for recycling can be found online at
  epspackaging.org/images/stories/National_Mail_Back_Locations.pdf

• 5

  Take polystyrene to AFPR drop off locations, locations of these centers throughout the nation can be found online at epspackaging.org/images/stories/Drop_Off_Recycling_Locations.pdf

• 6

  Some companies will even pay you to recycle your polystyrene.

  Sell your used polystyrene to a recycling company that pays for polystyrene. Visit the American Chemistry Council website at americanchemistry.com. Click on the link titled "plastics division" on the left side bar, then click on the link titled "learning center" on the left side bar. Click on the link titled "recycled plastic markets database." This will take you to a search engine. Enter your zip code or state, and select "Polystyrene (PS)" from the list. Press "Search." This will deliver you to a page that will display all of the recycling companies that purchase polystyrene in your area. Phone numbers and links to company websites are provided so that you can easily contact these companies and sell them your used polystyrene. A link to this search engine, titled "American Chemistry Council: Recycled Plastic Markets Database," is provided in the Resources.