Styrofoam refers to expanded polystyrene foam, such as disposable coffee cups, coolers or cushioning material in packaging, which is typically white and is made of expanded polystyrene beads. And Styrofoam is almost 98% air, so it has large volume.

Styrofoam takes more than 500 years to biodegrade, and because of its lightweight nature can easily travel through gutters, storm drains, or in the wind, and reach the ocean. Marine life often mistakes Styrofoam for plankton and fish.

 

In fact, Styrofoam is so inert that it is difficult to recycle and takes decades or longer to break down in the environment. Nowadays, the possible recycling solution is granulating and then to make other products. But it’s more difficult for people to carry out the granulation, so before granulation, the first step should be volume reduction.

Styrofoam materials are used as packaging in many industry, such as home appliance shockproof packaging, fish boxes and foam food packaging and so on. All of this packaging are with large volume which is difficult to dispose.

 

So if people want to join in the Styrofoam recycling which is good for the environment and economic, they should take the first step: foam volume reduction. To reduce the foam volume, a professional compactor can do the ”job” well.

Styrofoam compactor supplied by GREENMAX from INTCO recycling (an American company) is a machine that can reduce the foam volume at the ratio of 50:1. The compactor can smash the foam into pieces and then use its compressing system to compact the foam pieces into high density blocks.



The compressed Styrofoam blocks can be easily stocked on the pallets and sold to be granulated and then to make other products like XPS insulation board and frame products. This is a really environmental and economic business for people to join in, so if you are interested in the first step of Styrofoam recycling, you can choose GREENMAX Styrofoam compactor to help.