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Expanded polystyrene has confirmed stubbornly uneconomical to recycle, however Augusta, N.J.-based Foam Cycle has an reasonably priced answer that may be added at any municipal switch station or neighborhood location. Earth911 talks with Foam Cycle founder and CEO Lou Troiano concerning the self-service foam assortment and recycling system his firm has put in in a number of communities across the nation. Expanded polystyrene, also called expanded plastic #6 or by the Dow Chemical trademark Styrofoam in its blue kind, is 98% air, so it takes loads of foam to provide a usable quantity of the recycled resin. In conventional waste-sorting services, it’s impractical to type and clear foam so virtually all of the 1,500 tons Americans produce every day goes into landfills.
The Foam Cycle system suits in a transport container. Troiano says that individuals who drop off foam on the New Jersey and Florida areas the place Foam Cycle has techniques typically place clear packing and meals service foam within the system. The $75,000 items are financed by municipal waste administration techniques and entrepreneurs — Foam Cycle seeks public-private partnerships — and can break even in 4 to 5 years primarily based on typical utilization. Troiano shares that non secular organizations are expressing curiosity within the system to assist their communities take care of an intractable recycling downside and to lift funds for his or her ministries. A ton of the processed resin sells for between $300 and $500. If you’re interested by remedy its foam recycling problem, take a look at Foam Cycle.
