Dive Brief:

• The Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) announced the emergence of a new group -- the Foam Recycling Coalition. The organization was established to support post-consumer expanded polystyrene packaging (EPS) recycling. 
• The group plans to start a grant program that will span several years to assist material recovery facilities (MRFs) with the recycling of polystyrene. The facility will focus on materials such as foodservice containers and egg cartons.
• The coalition was formed on behalf of 13 companies that represent a majority of the foodservice packaging manufacturing industry in the US and Canada. 

Dive Insight:

The EPS conducted a study that illustrated an increase in demand for recycled EPS across the US and in global markets. Results indicated that almost 140 companies process or use recycled polystyrene in America and Canada. 

The FPI’s Paper Recovery Alliance and Plastics Recovery Group has been involved with overcoming  barriers that hinder the recycling and composting of foodservice packing since 2011. The president of FPI, Lynn Dyer, said that the group discovered foam packaging has its own “unique set of barriers that warrant special attention” after a study showed growth in end markets for polystyrene recycling. 

The group’s program serves to capitalize on this demand by giving assistance to sort, store and transport polystyrene, while preventing the materials from being discarded into landfills.