School lunch trays can be recycled

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), May, 2008

Democratic Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn, N.Y., wants to ban all polystyrene food trays from the area's schools--and no wonder. With New York City schools using 4,000,000 cafeteria trays a day and not recycling them, valuable landfill space is being wasted. Historically, clean post-industrial and consumer packaging made of encapsulated polystyrene (EPS) was not recycled because of the low cost-benefit ratio of the available processes.

Typically, equipment designed to handle EPS either was too expensive or large and cumbersome. However, new technology now makes it recyclable, as a line of polystyrene processing equipment with a 4' x 4' footprint has been created. The machines use heat to reduce the size of the material by 90%, melting and compressing it into a solid plastic ingot. This then is used as the raw material for other plastic products such as picture frames or CD jewel cases. The process eliminates polystyrene and Styrofoam from the country's ever-burgeoning waste stream.

If companies and government were to consider polystyrene recycling in lieu of a ban, they would be in good company. In 2004, Polk County, Fla., established a polystyrene recycling facility to save landfill space. To date, officials claim companies that diverted their polystyrene to the recycling facility have saved over $280,000 in disposal, transportation, and labor costs while recycling over 1,200,000 pounds.