A PhD candidate at the University of Calgary has diverted over 2000 pounds of Styrofoam from landfills. Working in veterinary medicine labs, the student is familiar with the Styrofoam waste that labs produce. Since the city of Calgary does not accept recycling Styrofoam, the Styrofoam waste produced by the campus used to be sent to landfills. Knowing how dangerous Styrofoam pollution is, he planned to launch a Styrofoam recycling program pilot on the Foothills campus, which became a huge success.



Every year, labs generate a large quantity of Styrofoam that cannot be reused. The main reason is that the reagents and tiny bottles of medicine must be carefully protected by Styrofoam boxes, for Styrofoam is rigid and resilient to shaking. Also, Styrofoam cannot contact other medicines again, in order to avoid the medicine being contaminated. As universities, labs, and pharmacy boardshop generate many Styrofoam medicine boxes, the demand for recycling is high.



Since the program started in 2022, it has been recycled Styrofoam for more than 2000 pounds. The Styrofoam will be collected and recycled by a local company. The Styrofoam waste is first collected in the recycling bins, then sent to the recycling site. With the help of a Styrofoam compactor, Styrofoam can be easily compressed into blocks, which are greatly smaller in size and cost-efficient to transport. In addition, those blocks can be further made into new products, such as insulation, photo frames, and picture frames.



Overall, everyone should cultivate an awareness of Styrofoam recycling. No matter what social identity you are, you can pay your own efforts to contribute to the recycling initiative. Each small step can be integrated into a leap in the road of environmental protection. INTCO keeps improving recycling machines and methods all the time. INTCO will always stand on the environment-friendly side, pushing the Styrofoam recycling initiative forward.