Expanded polystyrene (EPS) seems to be everywhere: It holds your food, secures items in packages, provides insulation in homes, and even helps protect your head in your bike helmet. So have you ever thought about how to recycle EPS which can pollute water and soil without disposing properly?
And if you are an environmentalist and you want to do something for Styrofoam recycling, you are supposed to know which kind of plastic is expanded polystyrene. It has a symbol with code #6, and you can find it in boxes, plastic cups and CD cases.
However, problem is coming. It is not easy to recycle, as most communities do not allow residents to place it in with other recyclable items in the recycling bin. Even if your community accept plastic #6, it may not recycle EPS. That’s because expanded polystyrene is the final product. You can only cut it into more EPS, and it’s cheaper to make this product from original material.
Because of its light weight, EPS accounts for 0.01% of total municipal solid waste, but as you may have guessed, its size is a bigger problem. It occupies space in landfills and doesn’t easily decompose and wild animals may eat it.
However, with modest effort, you can dispose Styrofoam in an environmentally friendly manner. Here are the steps.
Step 1
Separate the Styrofoam from other recyclable items.
Step 2
Remove all debris, water and food from the Styrofoam. Only clean Styrofoam can be recycled.
Step 3
Check your community’s website or call for Styrofoam recycling information and facility location.
Step 4
Donate your Styrofoam to a school or arts and crafts group. Turning things that are potentially harmful to the environment into attractive and creative things is an added benefit of avoiding the entry of Styrofoam into landfills.
Step 5
Use screw compactor to compact expanded polystyrene and sell out to make new materials, like pellets, moldings and photo frames. EPS screw compactor GREENMAX is a professional machine which can handle Styrofoam efficiently.
In a word, remember the green living motto: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And if have good advices for EPS recycling, you can tell us with comments.