Residents in Otsego County, New York will now have the opportunity to recycle foam polystyrene 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 cups, plates, take-out containers, egg cartons, trays and blocks from local commercial businesses and self-delivery from residents.
The new grant funding allows Otsego County to purchase and install a densifier, finish its polystyrene processing center build out, collect materials, and focus on education and outreach.
The county committed to establishing a foam polystyrene recycling program as part of Otsego County’s 2018 Solid Waste Management Plan. The program partners with a local non-profit organization, Arc Otsego. Arc Otsego will provide staffing at the existing ReUse Center, and the county will assist with promotion and marketing.
Lynn Dyer, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute, which houses the coalition said, “Otsego County has shown a progressive attitude toward diverting as much county materials as possible. The county’s latest efforts on foam recycling mean these valuable materials are being recovered instead of landfilled.”
The county, which has about 60,000 residents among 24 communities, supports recycling of traditional materials, while also providing options for batteries, electronics, mattresses, medications and fluorescent lightbulbs.
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.; Dyne-A-Pak; Genpak; Hawaii’s Finest Products; INEOS Styrolution America LLC; NOVA Chemicals Corp.; Pactiv Foodservice/Food Packaging; Republic Plastics; and TOTAL Petrochemicals & Refining USA.
Otsego County is the 11th grant recipient to receive FRC funding since 2015. Over 3 million additional residents in the U.S. and Canada can recycle foam as a result of FRC grants.
Published in the September 2019 Edition