What to do with Styrofoam that Won’t Last Thousands of Years – by Linda Chambers
After our recent move to Thornton,CO we were upgrading some of our furniture needs. We would receive large boxes with LOTS of Styrofoam for packing. I’m not talking about ‘packing peanuts’, I mean those long skinny pieces that break easily and those thick blocks that you fit in the corners of boxes and are awkward in the trash. Well, I just didn’t want to put them in the trash. I called mail box businesses that usually took my bubble wrap and packing peanuts but they really didn’t want them because they were usually ‘box specific’ and they found it hard to use them on a regular basis. I called the city of Thornton and they had no facility that could handle them other than ones you would ‘mail’ the Styrofoam to.
I had gotten my ‘Garden in a Box’ from Boulder Resource this year so I called them to see if they knew of a closer place to recycle Styrofoam. YES!!! They had purchased a machine that would flatten the Styrofoam (#6 and flat sheets only) and then they sent it to a company that uses it for parking curbs and other hard surface objects. I was elated and immediately started passing the word around.
For a $3 fee (I gave them $10 for donation), I left the whole back seat of my truck full of Styrofoam at their facility. I can only say I felt a great deal of pleasure knowing I wasn’t putting more ‘trash’ in the landfill that would not disappear for centuries to come.
CHaRM FAQs:
Why are there fees? Recycling fees cover the costs of disassembling, collecting, storing, and marketing materials. Our $3 facility fee allows us to accept many materials with no additional recycling fee.
Bicyclists and all-electric vehicles with CHaRM materials are not charged a facility fee.
Visitors may purchase a Frequent CHaRMer Card and receive 5 visits for $10.
Where do the materials go?
Visit www.ecocycle.org for a list of local recycling partners and what happens to CHaRM items
CHARM’s recycle web page explains how the faculty works and why we, as a faith community, should support them as much as possible.