Kent County Department of Public Works, operating out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, received a $50,000 grant from the Foodservice Packaging Institute鈥檚 Foam Recycling Coalition (FRC). The grant enables businesses and over 250,000 households in the county and the neighboring six counties to recycle materials such as foam polystyrene (PS) cups, plates, bowls, take-out containers, egg cartons and block packaging foam.
The FRC grant assisted with funding the purchase and installation of a foam densifier, used to compact foam products into foam blocks or ingots. Kent County DPW will sell the foam ingots to Atlas Molded Products, in Byron Center, Michigan, to be manufactured into thermal insulation panels for foundations, walls and roofs, as well as converted into styrene resins commonly used to make picture frames and crown molding.
Residents and businesses can take their used polystyrene foam to the new North Kent Waste and Recycling Facility at 2908 Ten Mile Road NE in Rockford, Michigan. The facility accepts single stream recycling, old corrugated cardboard (OCC), scrap metal, vinyl siding and household hazardous waste, as well as hard-to-recycle materials. There is no charge for using the residential recycling drop-off stations, including the polystyrene foam drop-off. However, fees apply for trash, electronics and other special items.
鈥淎s of 2023, Kent County operated four facilities, managed approximately 600,000 tons of municipal and commercial waste annually, and coordinated 800 truck deliveries daily, but we lacked the ability to process polystyrene,鈥� said Matt McPherson, Communications Manager with Kent County DPW. 鈥淚n 2024, the county completed construction of a new solid waste processing and transfer station in Rockford that enables us to include polystyrene collection. This is a beneficial addition to Kent County鈥檚 recycling program.鈥�
鈥淜ent County is expanding foam polystyrene recycling access to a large population of West Michigan, and we are proud to be a part of that effort,鈥� said Natha Dempsey, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute. 鈥淭he county鈥檚 facilities and programs exemplify the regional impact one county can make.鈥�