Rockford SusCom sponsored Rockford, Michigan’s quarterly polystyrene recycling event on January 18, 2025, accepting clean EPS takeout containers, cups, egg cartons and polystyrene packaging. The event was free and open to the public in hopes of providing residents with a convenient EPS recycling option.

The event was part of a series of recycling events held in Michigan by food packaging solutions provider Dart Container, Rockford SusCom’s EPS recycling partner. Rockford’s past polystyrene recycling events have been a huge success, with an average of over 400 pounds of EPS foam collected at each event in 2024.

Where does the collected foam go?

Considering the negative environmental impact of discarded foam, many communities regularly hold polystyrene recycling events to provide residents with an option to deal with EPS foam. So, where does the foam go after it is collected in large quantities?

In the past, a large amount of white foam was discarded to landfills, but now various recycling equipment can convert EPS waste back into recycled materials, which has a wide market demand. For example, polystyrene densifier is a professional EPS volume reduction equipment that compacts loose foam into ingots and can increase the logistics efficiency in EPS recycling by 90 times.

Usually, the community will establish a partnership with a professional polystyrene recycler, transport the collected foam there, and charge some fees. Some communities will also choose to purchase a polystyrene melting machine because of the large amount of foam each month. At the same time, some polystyrene recycling organizations, such as Foam Recycling Coalition, will also provide financial support for the purchase of polystyrene densifier.

Compared with unprocessed foam, compacted polystyrene ingots are more popular in the market and can be sold to downstream recyclers at a higher price and attract more potential buyers. The profits from the sale of these ingots can not only quickly recover the investment cost of the polystyrene melting machine, but also bring continuous benefits to the community in the future, help more efficient operations, and radiate polystyrene recycling work in surrounding areas.

Closed-loop industrial chain of polystyrene recycling

In addition to the community's demand for EPS recycling, many companies that use or produce foam also need polystyrene densifiers to handle waste materials, especially in the foam packaging related industry. These companies will compress used foam packaging or unqualified products into ingots and sell them to downstream companies. In this way, not only can waste EPS be processed in large quantities and warehouses be cleaned up, but the environment can also be effectively maintained, turning waste into treasure.

The compressed ingots will be crushed, hot-melted, extruded, and cut into PS particles by granulation equipment, which are the raw materials for making a variety of eco-friendly products. Take GREENMAX as an example. GREENMAX is one of the largest end users of recycled foam. Every month, it uses a large number of PS particles to produce various building materials such as photo frames, sound-absorbing wall panels, and outdoor floors.

GREENMAX truly realizes the closed loop of polystyrene recycling. Additionally, there are still many companies practicing the foam recycling industrial chain. From waste foam, to compressed ingots and PS particles, to different recycled products, polystyrene is no longer a disposable material, but a renewable resource. Polystyrene recycling can be achieved efficiently through polystyrene densifier, granulator and other equipment.

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