Comments on: How can I reuse or recycle moulded expanded polystyrene?

By: Matilda

Matilda — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:51:58 +0000

The pieces of polystyrene look like snail/slug eggs, so birds will go crazy for it. Not good for them, though.

By: Paul jelley

Paul jelley — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:31:26 +0000

I have a machine that beaks 6 40ft loads into little balls every week. And is then recycled in house

By: Bernard MICHEL

Bernard MICHEL — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:48:45 +0000

Give that to boats builders !! We use it a lot in insulation !! And some use it even to build their boat , with some resin anfiber in and outside !! Very strong and very light result !! That way you save trees and have fun at the same time !!

By: Bernard MICHEL

Bernard MICHEL — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:38:28 +0000

What do you call organic solvent ?? My mind is not chemically oriented !! Could you give name or trade mark name , or whatever can help ??

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:17:19 +0000

horrible answer. the land only fill up with this crap because no one as taken the initiative to recycle it grind it down and turn it into compressed insulation because it is not a thermo-plastic. by banning or making it harder to produce poly polystyrene homes would be not efficient in heat retention. go to architecture school and you will learn how Styrofoam is saving and not destroying the planet. the only problem is people don’t reduce or reuse the material which is best. because it cant be melted once it is set. so the answer is to be smart and make billions of dollars by reusing the stuff and not whining because we cant think of a way to solve the problem aside from making government do everything for us. we need to use the nasty stuff to make wonderful things that change the world. depleted uranium is another story more difficult to figure out what to do with that stuff.

By: larry

larry — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:59:16 +0000

i dig this website it’s just what i needed! thanks. but umm how do they remould polystyrene? does anyone know?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:56:56 +0000

you didn’t say how the polystyrene is actually moulded into different shapes – i need to know – please!? i can’t find it anywhere else.

By: paul

paul — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:03:13 +0000

Yes I have looked into the council putting a dedicated skip at the recycling centers or having a weekly collection from the road side as they do in Wales. None of this Blackpool council were interested in due to cost! because the polystyrene has no weight it doesn’t cost that much to send to land fill and it doesn’t put the councils over there targets of what should be recycled. there are many ways of recycling polystyrene within the industry, the problem occurs in trying to get it back from the indivual. I agree that it should be taken back to the store where the item was purchased for the company to deal with. or clear information on the box where it could be taken locally within your usual running about. THIS IS THE MOST VIABLE OPTION!! to deal with the masses of smaller quantity’s of polystyrene in circulation. I collect from all of the manufactures of polystyrene as many wholesalers as possible up and down the UK (it is always collected on a back load when the lorry would normally be coming back empty) and as many local businesses as possible. I am even going to the lengths where I’m thinking of canvassing my local streets where it could be brought to my house.
Contact me if i can help PLAYTIMEUKLTD@AOL.COM

By: amber123pat

amber123pat — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 02:28:46 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more, Stephen. Darren and Ryan – you are both idiots…

By: Chill*

Chill* — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:04:37 +0000

Perhaps it’s you, elserj75, who’s having trouble viewing big pictures.

The lorries mostly return back to the distribution warehouses empty from the shops- they should be carrying packaging, ideally to be reused and if not, recycled.

In Sweden most 2 litre drink bottles and the like are designed for reuse, being made of thicker plastic than we use here in the UK. They carry a deposit and are returned to the shop when empty. When the lorry drops off its crates of full bottles, it picks up the empties. So simple, so good.
This should be the case worldwide with as many items as possible. It may take a while to get the infrastructure set up, but once that’s done it’s good for everyone. I’m sure it will be as oil becomes more difficult to extract, more in demand and more expensive.

Just because EPS is cheaper does not make it better. The fact that moulded paper packaging may not be recyclable does not make it worse than EPS- have you been to a river where EPS peanuts line the banks at the high-water mark? That would never happen with paper moulded packaging. And it’s very unlikely that paper packaging would ever make it to the ever expanding Great Pacific Garbage Patch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch
Oil is a finite resource and should be used sparingly, just because it’s currently cheap doesn’t mean that we should be using it up as if it will last for ever.

If it was up to me, the government would ban all oil based and unnecessary packaging and charge tax on any that wasn’t recycled.

By: elserj75

elserj75 — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:43:04 +0000

yes thats great, how much diesel will be used transporting the EPS from one shop to another and then onto the warhouse, there are some crazy comments from people who really dont see the bigger picture, do you know that more energy is spent producing paper pulp moulds than EPS? and in fact the paper pulp moulds are not recyclable? after being mashed down “pulped” the paper fibres are too short to be used for recycling

By: jerry

jerry — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:03:59 +0000

Never put it in your walls or ceiling. It is EXTREAMLY FLAMIBLE AND TOXICWHEN IT BURNS IF YOU EVER HAVE A HOUSE FIRE….

By: tim

tim — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:29:18 +0000

Seems like most people that complain about the use and recycling properties of EPS cannot write or spell (to do a google search) or cannot read (to educate themselves regarding the recycling of polystyrene) or simply do not have electricity on at their house so cannot use their computer (due to trying to reduce their carbon footprint beyond that of an ant – goodness knows what they do when they fart). The truth is that all plastics can be recycled – and recycling them would reduce the need to produce more from (the most feared word) OIL. The most sensible comment made above (other than comments from those people involved in the polystyrene processing industry) is to designate somewhere in your local area (a transfer station) that all this can be dropped off free of charge for pick up by recycling companies…

By: jillian

jillian — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:31:12 +0000

I like this idea…it works very well! We did it recently to save on caulk, after realizing the “caulk saver” sold in stores is a tube of polystyrene. We had enough of that crap at home!

By: sonofsilence

sonofsilence — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:25:31 +0000

What’s deadly about the word “it”?

By: JCL

JCL — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:46:40 +0000

Be careful re-using polystyrene!
*Especially* for insulation. Polystyrene is highly flammable and building codes/regs in US/EU require a flame retardent barrier and sometimes the polystyrene itself to be treated.. Plus far as I remember there is Extruded and Expanded polystyrene types. One is water permeable and less dense than the other and (I forget which) but the one used for electrical packaging is the one least suited to building/construction use.
That said polystyrene is a very good insulator and there are commercially available concrete enclosed forms/blocks, etc that use polystyrene which meet fire safety regs. A google search gives lots of examples of fires due to polystyrene.
Avoid trying to reduce it using solvents. But if you must then wear protective gear and do so in a well ventilated location – the process will release some pretty nasty toxins. Same for burning – combustion is incomplete and releases carcinogens..
Store your polystyrene safely and securely – it will play havoc on your pets digestive system and could be fatal if ingested.

By: bobbie

bobbie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:21:38 +0000

I’d like to brake it into little balls fillings for bean bags anyone know were i can get to done

By: Mick un Em

Mick un Em — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:42:10 +0000

I’ve just replied to your first post about EPS. =o)
EPS seem’s to be the best option for us, its just a shame our nearest depot is 40 miles away.
But we will probably do the trip.
Thanks again.

By: Mick un Em

Mick un Em — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:38:38 +0000

EPS is just what we need right now.
We’ve just finished puting up three falt packs of furniture from Next. They were welll packaged in big cardboard boxes and lots of poloystyrene =o/
I started braking it all up and puting it in to black bags for the dustman, not what i wanted to do at all, for one thing it would of probably been over ten bags, and the thought of all that crap going in the ground is frightning.
So i googled “recycle poloystyrene” and found this great site.
I’m about 40 miles from the nearest EPS Depot =o/ which is a shame, but we will probably make the trip.
Many thanks to all who have posted.

By: alison mccullough

alison mccullough — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:13:36 +0000

Some great ideas guys, I’m really glad I clicked on here, thanks.

Could also try this website I’ve just found: http://www.eps.co.uk/packaging/recycling/recycling_1a_compacted.htm. Then click on “EPS recyclers”, to see if you are near one. (EPS = Expanded PolyStyrene apparently).

I might grind mine up and add to the soil in the garden to help drainage or insulate the loft. Love the idea of all sending it to one place all at once to make an impact. Also it’s bringing out all sorts of creativity in people, which is one positive.

But definitely store it while you come up with a solution, binning is for quitters!!!

By: Bridget

Bridget — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:09:03 +0000

Here is a good idea for recycling polystyrene – look in the yellow pages for the companies that advertise those manmade rocks for landscaping/water features etc. They use crushed up polystyrene mixed with other goodies. We stock ours up and then phone them, and they come and collect. Hope that helps…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:16:13 +0000

Would you be interested in recycling waste directly from consumsers?

By: John

John — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:52:47 +0000

Try this. It is fantastic bit of kit if you generate quantities of polystyrene

http://www.styromelt.com/

By: PAUL

PAUL — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:44:36 +0000

Hi all,

I own a business that recycles polystyrene. we use 5 40ft loads of scap a week but need more! most comes from the manufacture of it but i am now looking into collecting from the larger companys that uses it in packaging there products. maybe in the future you will be able to take it back to the shops you buy from. email is playtimeukltd@aol.com if any of this is interst to anyone.

By: Imogen

Imogen — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:10:07 +0000

Post it to your minister for environment together with a note calling for it to be banned – needs to be done on a campaign scale (hmm carbon footprint though … but would be worth it on balance if it worked)

By: msd

msd — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:42:20 +0000

polystyrene is a great insulator. I read an R rating of 3.5 per 3cm. With this in mind i collected all the boxes of about 2.5cm in thickness from the local markets. things like broccoli is transported with ice in them.
I used a very hot knife to cut up the boxes in to flat sections and insulated my entire roof with 5cm of polystyrene.
The vapor of from the knife is not to be breathed but it saved me the mess of crumbled boxes.

Free home insulation low heating costs and recycling. Yay im collecting now to put behind the new plastering we are doing of our walls.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:16:34 +0000

My mother used it to keep ice from her pond in the winter, and keep her baby fish warm!!!

By: Sofia

Sofia — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:02:15 +0000

Maybe the responsibility should lie with the manufacturer. So when we buy something i.e. t.v. we send it back to the shop and they send it back to the warehouse and finally they send it back to the factory which in turn send the packaging back to where it cake from. Basically we should put pressure on the retailer to return the packaging.

By: Sofia

Sofia — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:58:29 +0000

I think that the most important thing is to store it somewhere whilst we are deciding what to do with it..don’t you think?

By: Sofia

Sofia — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:54:00 +0000

I do have one idea of my own if anyone would care to hear…

Maybe we should all decide here…once and for all… where it should go…

and send it there.

That would be very decisive, wouldn’t it?