From: Treehugger
Turns out, those foam (aka styrofoam) take-away containers (#6) that really make your green heart cringe can actually be recycled into baseboards and moldings for your home. The only problem – who is going to take them back and recycle them? Solution: There are now has 8 bins across the United States that collect the stuff for Dart Corporation, with the latest in Kentucky.
The latest drop-off spot is located near Horse Cave, KY, which happens to be just up the road from Mammoth Cave National Park. The recycling locations are provided by Dart Container Corporation, maker of many of these #6 products. Mammoth Cave admits that they plan to get a lot of use out of the new location, as these containers are often left throughout the park. Now, park rangers and officials will just truck the container out of the park – in fact, they’ve been collecting foam for the last 6 months waiting for the container to be installed.
In Kentucky, G&R Recycling will come by and collect all of the foam for recycling. Other styrofoam recycling locations can be found in California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania; 7 in total. Dart says they plan to install more styrofoam recycling dropoff locations in the future and if you go to their website you can see an interesting graphic on just how styrofoam is broken down, cleaned, dried, sorted, peletized and all of the other steps before it starts over.
What Can You Recycle?
Foam containers with a #6 on them, including foam cups, plates, take-out containers, egg cartons and even some of the stuffing that you find around electronics can all be recycled. To make it easier on the recyclers, please remove and rinse cups and containers, throw away straws and lids, and don’t put packing peanuts in the recycling bins (try shipping stores to see if they will take them back).
The next time you’re at Mammoth Cave, don’t forget to bring your #6 and leave it in the bin instead of the park.
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