You may not realise how much you come into contact with EPS (Expanded Polystyrene, also called Styrofoam) in your everyday life, and you might be more than a little shocked when you realise it. Styrofoam costs little to produce, and it is favored by a number of industries because of its insulation properties. Styrofoam is used a lot, especially in more developed countries, and Great Britain manufactures more than 275,000 tons of it every year. Have you ever wondered about what happens to Styrofoam and EPS waste once you’re done using it and throw it away with the rest of your garbage? Read on to learn more about the reasons why you should start getting on the Styrofoam recycling bandwagon, and to find out how specialized British recycling companies are making recycling Styrofoam easier than it’s ever been.
Out of the huge quantity of Styrofoam that the UK produces on a yearly basis, almost 40 million cubic meters of it end up in the UKs landfills each year, and once the material makes its way to the landfills, that’s where it will stay for an indefinite period of time, or even forever, because as far as we know, to this date, EPS waste either does not break down naturally or else it takes hundreds of years for the process to complete. Across the board, scientists’ main assumption is that the material does not decompose naturally but, as the material has only been around for less than 100 years, we’ll just have to wait and see.
The issue is that, if no one is recycling Styrofoam and it’s left to sit in landfills, the only thing it’s doing is taking up space. Space is one of the most precious commodities that the United Kingdom has, precisely because there’s so little of it to go around, and already projections are signaling that most landfills will run out of space in less than 11 years from now. Styrofoam recycling can definitely reduce much of the burden placed on the space by accumulating EPS waste in landfills, but, unfortunately, it cannot be done with Styrofoam that’s already been laying in the landfill for some time. Styrofoam recycling can only be done if the material is clean and uncontaminated, so we’ll have to find new ways to deal with the massive amounts of Styrofoam already taking up space in the UKs landfills which can no longer be recycled.
There’s no use crying over spilled milk, however. What needs to happen now is that British citizens need to make a stand for Styrofoam recycling, and most importantly they must all do their part in recycling Styrofoam, wherever possible, by working with companies like PolyMelt to recycle their waste. Many recycling centers that normally do handle plastic products tend to stay away from recycling Styrofoam, but there are specialized recycling companies like PolyMelt here to help. PolyMelt will offer its services free of charge to consumers, and they even offer pre-arranged EPS waste collections for businesses and enterprises.
Learn more about how convenient recycling Styrofoam can be if you’re working with a great company like PolyMelt and find out some of the major reasons why you should do your part in Styrofoam recycling to help the UK and to help yourself.