Plymouth Foam produces a wide range of foam products that make our lives easier every day. These foam materials insulate our homes, protect sensitive electronics, and keep our hot food hot and cold foods cold. Some of these products, particularly Airpop® EPS single use products, have been a challenge to recycle. Airpop® EPS with food residue, cannot be recycled in the traditional way.
Chemical recycling is the answer to recycling single use EPS products like Airpop® EPS. Agilyx, Inc. near Portland, Oregon is using chemical recycling of EPS to create plastics and related materials. Even single use EPS with food residue is recyclable. The chemical process breaks plastics down to the molecular building block, whereas mechanical recycling reforms it into a usable pellet.
Recycling of post-consumer plastics tends to be lower for a number of reasons resulting in alarms from environmentalists. In fact, “Most plastic we toss in a recycling bin actually can’t currently be recycled – a staggering 91 percent”.
Agilyx is recycling EPS packaging, EPS single use food containers like coffee cups and restaurant boxes, as well as other types of plastic. Challenged by the media and environmentalists, Bill Cooper, CFO of Agilyx, Inc. responds in a recent CBS News broadcast video link. “We’re taking a single-use item and we’re making it poly-usable. We’re making it usable multiple times over and over and over again.”
Plymouth Foam is committed to recycling sustainability. Let us be your source for creative and collaborative solutions for your foam materials products.
You can reach us at: sales@plymouthfoam.com.