Can I Recycle Styrofoam?
Can I Recycle Styrofoam?
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Styrofoam is one of those products that seems to have gone through phases of recyclability. At one point, we were allowed to put it in the recycling bin, now in many places we are told not to. Is there any way to recycle Styrofoam anymore?
If you live in the Northeast, Michigan or California, you may still be able to recycle Styrofoam, but most recycling centers won’t take it anymore, because it is mostly air and after melting down for reuse, there isn’t enough plastic left to make it profitable. It’s also a different type of plastic than what most jugs and bottles are made of, and it’s simply not a great quality plastic the manufacturers want. Check with your local community’s recycling program, but most likely they will tell you to simply throw it in the trash.
Even if your community does take Styrofoam for recycling, be aware that not all Styrofoam is created equal. The foam used in cups is different than packing peanuts which is different than the foam blocks your electronics come packed in, and so on. Not all types may be accepted. Some programs also don’t want colored Styrofoam. Be sure to find out what types of Styrofoam are accepted in your program and which aren’t. And make sure all items are clean and uncontaminated with food, other bits of plastic, wire, receipts, etc.
Styrofoam Recycling Options
If you are really motivated or you have a business that finds itself with lots of Styrofoam cups, packaging and so on, you can look around for places to take them.
- Packing peanuts are often desired by companies that ship a lot of products. If you have a bunch of styrofoam packing peanuts, offer to donate them to any company that can reuse them, or try your local UPS or FedEx store. You can also post it on BoxGiver, which helps people with extra packing materials find others who can use them. Or post it on your local “Buy Nothing” group where people give away items they no longer need.
- The website Home for Foam has a map of drop-off locations in select areas of the country. Check the map to see if there is a program near you that may take the type of styrofoam you have.
- Dart Recycling also has a Recycla-Pak program to take styrofoam cups back by mail. If you have a business or organization that generates a lot of styrofoam cup waste, this may be an option for you.
- You can include Styrofoam in TerraCycle’s Plastic Packaging Zero Waste Box and packing peanuts or styrofoam blocks in the TerraCycle Mailing, Shipping and Packaging Supplies Zero Waste Box. You purchase one of their boxes, fill it with a variety of difficult-to-recycle plastic packaging types (including Styrofoam) and mail back to them for recycling.
My best advice is simply to avoid Styrofoam whenever you can. Bring your own container for restaurant leftovers, carry a reusable mug or water bottle and patronize businesses that offer greener packaging choices.
Visit the Recycling Master Guide
for more recycling tips!
Actually styrofoam is reused by a number of places in the US and in the Northwest in particular. Agilyx in the Portland area collects styrofoam and repurposes it into road materials. The city of Seattle actually offers free curbside pickup of block styrofoam.
While most styrofoam is pretty easy to avoid, the hard parts to avoid are when you buy a new appliance – because it’s not always easy to find one second hand that fits your space. So it’s best to do an online search for your area rather than assume something is or is not recyclable &/or repurposeable.
The other thing I would recommend being conscious of is the fact that the term recycling is often misused. No plastic is recycled because the term recycling means you are turning that item into another similar item. Plastic can only be downcycled, and 95% of it can no longer be recycled once it is downcycled into a lesser product. That’s why it’s so important to avoid it in the first place because it is made from fossil fuels and is not renewable. We can’t keep patting ourselves on the back for down cycling. Avoid the new product that is sold in a non-recyclable or merely down-cyclable form .