Americans throw away an astonishing 25 billion Styrofoam cups each and every year. Styrofoam (more appropriately called Polystyrene or EPS) languishes in landfills indefinitely, taking at least 500 years – and possibly much longer – to decompose. 

There are two reasons EPS isn't allowed in our single-stream recycling bins: density and contamination. Polystyrene foam is 95% air so it is not cost-effective to ship it in its current state. It also breaks down into tiny pieces that can contaminate the recycling stream. At our CHaRM facility our EPS Densifier is able to compress the styrofoam to 1/50 of the original size which removes all that extra air and therefore, makes it more economical to ship.

Styrofoam (listed below) can be recycled in designated locations at Publix Supermarket and at the ACC CHaRM.