Can I Just Put Waste Foam in the General Waste Bins?

Regarding to Foam Recycling, we are honored to be able to help recycling enthusiasts by answering some of the most FAQs, and today we are answering the question “Can I Just Put Styrofoam in the General Waste Bins?”

The answer is “Better Not”. We first talk about under what circumstances the foam can be directly thrown into the General Waste Bins, only very dirty and hard to be cleaned foam like coffee cups, take away food containers, meat trays. It’s a pity that such foam recycling is not easy to be conducted and the quality of recycled foam material is still poor.

However, not all foam waste is in that case, like many foam packaging on some appliance items, which is clean and valuable after recycled.

Unfortunately, due to its propensity to burst into a shower of tiny plastic pieces, we’d better not put it into General Waste Bins in which it is hard to be sort out. Instead, it better goes into your curb side Recycling Bin, thus it is suitable to be processed through foam densifiers (the machine that are able to recycle EPS/Styrofoam).

Then, how do I prepare my waste foam for drop-off before foam recycling? First, clean it. For some food trays and cups this means removing all food particles and rinsing if you can. For some packaging foam this means removing all tape, wrap, and cardboard. In case that the foam could not be cleaned, you should place them in your General Waste Bins.

As for the foam densifier for foam compressing and compacting, it is up to you whether to choose cold compacting or hot melting ones. For most individuals, it is of no necessary to purchase such a foam recycling equipment, but for foam recycling centers, it counts. Here is almost full range of foam densifiers for you as a reference.