Last month, in Watchung, New Jersey, the Environmental Commission held the first EPS foam recycling activity. The EPS foam collection activity was warmed up on various social platforms and local websites in advance, hoping to attract more residents to participate. The end result was also good: 300 pounds of EPS foam were collected that day at the event in the Department of Public Works garage.



In fact, local ideas have been around for a long time on how to raise environmental awareness in the community and promote sustainable practices. In the end, the Watchung Borough Council decided to work with the local environmental committee to achieve these goals together. The Environment Council believes that the EPS foam recycling program contributes to the above-mentioned goals and also helps Watchung become a green community and achieve Sustainable Jersey certification. On the other hand, this can also perfect the curbside recycling project because EPS foam waste is unrecyclable by the traditional way.



On recycling day, residents brought their waste EPS foam to DPW to wait for a Watchung Borough representative to check if the material was made suitable for recycling. After receiving so much EPS foam waste, the Environmental Commission arranged for the clerk to transport them to the receiving facility in a timely manner. Some people may wonder, why does the recycling station accept EPS foam? Does EPS foam waste have recycling value? In this regard, some data can answer these questions.



The EPS industry claims a recycling rate of about 12%, according to the Alliance for Foam Packaging Recycling. But in the US and Canada, the recycling rate achieves to 33%. This figure keeps rising these years. The reasons that more and more regions begin to recycle EPS foam are the considerable profits and environmental-friendly significance. EPS foam waste can be sold to recyclers for recycled plastic products. By the way, it’s hard to transport loose EPS foam, so an EPS foam compactor can help in reducing its volume. INTCO Recycling provides GREENNMAX EPS foam compactor to customers to help them recycle EPS foam, also buys back the compressed EPS. This means INTCO Recycling offers a total EPS foam recycling solution for customers. After this EPS foam collection, Watchung decided to launch another recycling activity because of the rich “harvest”. Therefore, no waiting, EPS foam recycling is what we all need to do and worth doing.