Foam Equipment's Blog

How much scrap foam do I have?

One of the problems many people have when considering a compactor or densifier for scrap foam plastics is how much foam do they really have?  Since packaging foam is very lightweight and can be very bulky, what appears to be a large quantity may not be so much after all.  Typical polystyrene foam packaging and insulation is usually in the density range of 1 to 2 pound per cubic foot.  What this means is if you have a 12 inch x 12 inch x 12 inch cube of solid foam, it would weigh between 1 and 2 pounds.  Since most packaging foam is not used in a solid block form but is molded into relatively thin designs to protect the product, several cubic feet of polystyrene or polyethylene packaging foam may be required to equal a pound of foam.

Here are a few guidelines for estimating the weight of uncompressed EPS or EPE foam pieces.  (This excludes stacked sheet foam and block foam)

1. A 53' trailer load will weigh 1500 - 2000 pounds
2. A 20 yard roll-off dumpster containing only EPS foam will hold 200 - 300 pounds of EPS
3. A 12 foot square mound of foam packaging piled 8 feet high will weight about 100 - 150 pounds of EPS

Are you still unsure of your weekly or monthly EPS waste volume? We are happy to give you a hand.  Give us a call at 314-427-4395 or email at info@foamequipment.com.

FYI:  Styrofoam is a registered trademark for the Dow Chemical brand of extruded polystyrene foam (XPS). It is usually blue in color and made in the form of a sheet.   Expandable polystyrene (EPS) is a bead type foam which can be molded into shapes, blocks, and sheets.  It is typically white in color but can be died to any color.  EPS is frequently but erroneously referred to a Styrofoam.

Styrofoam Recycling

There is a misconception that Styrofoam ^TM (Expandable PolyStyrene or EPS) is not recyclable and that is wrong.  EPS recycling is growing stronger every day.  Styrofoam ^TM or EPS is the number "6" recycling plastic and it must be reduced or compacted to make it feasible to ship to a plastics recycler.  It has become a coveted raw material for recyclers and they are discovering a wide range of markets for it.  

A full trailer load of loosely stacked EPS foam will only weigh approximately 2000 pounds.  After the foam is run through a compactor or densifier 40,000 pounds or more can go on that same trailer and now it is cost effective for shipping.  A screw compactor can take a 1 pound per cubic foot piece of Styrofoam and reduce the volume to as much as 20 pounds per cubic foot.  This compactor or densifier can also process other types of foam.

There needs to be bigger push for all types of recycling, Styrofoam included. It's plain and simple, recycling still costs more than landfilling in many locations - it's all about the cost. 

So how do we curb the landfilling?  Just like we do for alcohol, cigarettes and gambling, we create a sin tax that would increase the cost of landfilling.  This tax money is then used for recycling efforts: setting up recycling locations, paying workers and purchasing equipment, like the EPS compactor. 

Recycled polystyrene, polyethylene, & polypropylene foam prices climb

Prices for virgin polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene resins in North American continue to increase.  Prices have increased as much as 20% or more since the beginning of 2010.  There has also been an increase in products made with recycled PE and PP content. These factors are helping to push up the prices for recycled PP and PE foam logs to very attractive levels.  At the recent Plastic Recycling Conference in Austin, TX, we received as many requests from buyers looking for material sources as we did for recycling machinery.  It is a good time to take a new look at your EPS, PE and PP foam wastes.  The return on investment for a foam compactor may be significantly better than a year ago.  We would be happy to assist you in your analysis and put you in touch with material buyers for updated material bids.

What Is Styrofoam?

Many of us use the term Styrofoam as a reference to most plastic foam packaging.  We include foam drinking cups, packaging peanuts and the white material that our appliances, toys and so many other items are packaged in.  In fact, most of this is not Styrofoam.  Styrofoam is a registered trademark of Dow Chemical for an extruded polystyrene foam material sometimes referred to as XPS.  This material is always made in a sheet form and is generally the color blue.  The primary use for Styrofoam is for building insulation although you may find it used in Geofoam applications or in block form in the hobby store.  As Dow states on their website, "You can't drink coffee from a STYROFOAM cup. (There's no such thing.)"

The typical foam coffee cup and the most common white colored packaging foam is expandable polystyrene foam or EPS for short.  This material is related to Styrofoam in chemical makeup but it is produced and formed in a different process.  It is generally recycled separately from DOW Styrofoam or other XPS material.   EPS can usually be identified by looking for the circular pattern on the surface created by the individual beads that are used to make the molded shape.

EPS is one of the best cushioning materials for protecting products during shipping.  While the claims that it is not biodegradable are true, the claims that it is not recyclable are totally false.  EPS foam packaging can be extruded back into solid PS pellets.  These can be used to produce many new items in PS plastic including coat hangers, CD cases and picture frames.