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Styrofoam Recycling?

As Bentley mentioned in his last post, we are both quite frustrated in the lack of recycling methods available for styrofoam. Every time I buy something new I am shocked by how much styrofoam was used in packaging. I understand that styrofoam is a great product and helps ensure packaged goods arrive to their destination safely without damage. However, I think manufacturers depend too highly on this material. If we can’t find adequate ways to recycle styrofoam then we should look to create and use alternative protective packaging. Surely, with today’s technology, we can create more eco-friendly methods of packaging and shipping.

Bentley, I did a little searching on the Internet and most of the information I found states that styrofoam is not cost-effective to recycle for most waste-management facilities. However, I found a great article from Sony. The article states that oranges can be used to recycle styrofoam. If you rub an orange peel over styrofoam it will indent slightly. The reason for the indent is the chemical, limonene, which constitutes 0.5% of citrus peel. If you were to extract the limonene and spray directly on a piece of styrofoam, it would dissolve the styrofoam before your eyes.

The article describes the process involved with recycling styrofoam and demonstrates the technology used to turn bulky styrofoam pieces into styrene pellets that are used in the styrofoam manufacturing process.

This article seems like it is a few years old and if the information is correct, why are waste-management companies not taking advantage of the limonene solution?

The article can be found here, Sony.

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Written by steve on October 2nd, 2006 with 4 comments.
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4 comments

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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Katherine
#1. November 9th, 2007, at 1:59 AM.

HEYY!!

Wow,
this caught me by surprise!! I was looking up ways on google to recycle Styrofoam I was wondering if Ya’ll had a number I could call?!

if soo

EMAIL ME!!!!

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Keith
#2. March 11th, 2008, at 11:41 PM.

Sony does not give away its technology. Hell, it’s rare when they even license it out. They are the epitome of corporate control freaks. They would rather let a product die a slow and painful death than license the manufacture out to a lesser company (remember Beta or Minidisk?). I’m betting my money that Sony is sitting on this because nobody is willing to pay the millions they want.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Carly Collaer
#3. April 6th, 2011, at 9:07 AM.

Thanks for sharing Interesting post. Thanks for taking this opportunity to discuss this, I appreciate with this and I like learning about this subject. If possible, as you gain information, please update this blog with more information. I have found it really useful.
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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Laina
#4. April 19th, 2011, at 2:02 PM.

I wanted to touch base and let you know we now carry the Styrofoam Densifier.

Quality Bilt Equipment has recently added what is sure to be an immediate hit with warehouse and distribution center managers. Styrofoam, as you know, is a continuing problem in handling, storage and waste disposal. Up to this point, most facilities simply threw their waste Styrofoam into a dumpster or a compactor before shipping it to a landfill. Since Styrofoam is literally 98% air and 2% plastic, the expense of disposal of this material is expensive and a disaster for the environment. Styrofoam is very stable and does not degrade over thousands of years. Burning is restricted in almost all situations. Recycling is almost out of the question because of the cost of shipping to any recycling center even one that is close … at least until now.

Our foam densifier is designed to reduce the volume of Styrofoam 90:1 thus making the storage and shipping of this recyclable affordable. The FD-25 is designed to handle the needs of most end-users.

The FD-25 shreds and then melts the large blocks of Styrofoam quickly and extrudes the output into a 3/4″ “rope” that quickly solidifies into a small “patty” which can be stored for later shipment. A roomful of Styrofoam can be reduced in minutes down to two or three 12 inch diameter X 4 inch high patties.

But that is not all! Quality Bilt can supply names of recyclers that will buy the recycled Styrofoam and pay for that product. Reducing the disposal costs down to $0 and then adding the income generated from this recycling program will make this a very attractive proposition for most centers! We expect sales of our densifier to expand rapidly as managers see the potential – especially in this economy where cost savings are a necessary consideration of any manager. This is a win/win/win situation for the warehouse facility, the distributor and not the least of which – the environment!
I am more then happy to answer any questions.
http://www.qualitybilt.com

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