St. Lucie County Starts Foam Recycling Program
ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FL (treasurecoast.com)- Did you know that in the airless, lightless environment of the landfill, the petroleum-based plastic called polystyrene foam (such as Styrofoam) can take up to one million years to decompose? Unfortunately, foam still cannot be placed in curbside recycling carts – because it becomes too dirty during collection to properly recycle – but St. Lucie County residents now have a new option.
Residents in St. Lucie County now have the opportunity to recycle foam polystyrene (such as Styrofoam) through a county program, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Foam Recycling Coalition (FRC). The county’s program will focus on receiving foam packaging from televisions, appliances, computers and furniture, as well as clean foodservice packaging, such as egg cartons, coffee cups, light colored meat trays and foam coolers from local businesses and self-delivery from residents.
The new grant funding allows St. Lucie County to purchase and install a polystyrene densifier, collect materials, and focus on education and outreach. Currently, the only drop-off location is located at the County landfill at 6120 Glades Cutoff Road, Fort Pierce.
The grant is made possible through contributions to the FRC, which focuses exclusively on increased recycling of post-consumer foam polystyrene. Its members include Americas Styrenics; Cascades Canada ULC; CKF Inc.; Chick-fil-A; Dart Container Corp.; Dolco Packaging; Dyne-A-Pak; Genpak; INEOS Styrolution America LLC; NOVA Chemicals Corp.; Pactiv Foodservice/Food Packaging; Republic Plastics; and TOTAL Petrochemicals & Refining USA.
St. Lucie County and Collier County received this grant and are the first in Florida to receive FRC funding. St. Lucie County is also the 16th grant recipient to receive FRC funding since 2015.Currently, the only other county that recycles polystyrene foam is Indian River County. Over 4 million additional residents in the U.S. and Canada can recycle foam as a result of FRC grants. Visit www.recyclefoam.org. to learn about foam recycling, read about previous recipients, or apply for a grant.
For more information please visit www.stluciecountyrecycles.com or call 772-462-1768 for more information.
