10th Quarterly Styrofoam Collection - City of Waco To Take Over Operation Begun By Waco Friends of the Climate

Waco Friends of the Climate's 10th Styrofoam Collection for Recycling took place on Oct 9, 2021, at the Cobbs Recycling Center. Response of Wacoans continued to be great, even on a day when there were many simultaneous events. We collected styrofoam in a volume to fill 1 40 yard roll off dumpster and a 2nd 3/4 full 40 yard roll off dumpster.

The good news is that after 9 quarterly collections, after which we drove rented trucks to Waxahachie for recycling, the City of Waco will obtain a densifier machine and begin to process styrofoam in Waco. The resultant plastic ingots are being used for products such as lawn furniture, coat hangers, door frames, and eyeglass frames. And the FOC began this program because the production of new, virgin plastic releases much more GHGs than plastic derived from recycled styrofoam.

Great thanks to our hard-working volunteer crew:  Harrison Ward, Doug Michaels MD, Monty Suffern, Jack Bowers, and Alice McEwen. Although the event was outdoors, we had relatively close contact with drivers, and we thus wore masks as we have throughout the pandemic. Many thanks as well to Ashley Millerd Crownover of the City of Waco, and the truck driver for roll offs for collaboration on this event. The styrofoam we collected will be stored until the densifier is in operation.

In the future, the City will announce when it will begin to accept styrofoam for local recycling. This is good news, as the City can handle a much larger volume than can the Friends of the Climate.