”It should be noted, that Poly Foam is anENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY COMPANY and I will discuss what we do in this regard to not only conserve both energy and our natural resources but also to keep our raw material from ending up as waste and ultimately becoming part of the land filling process.
Poly Foam has been an active participant in both energy conservation and recycling for many years. As part of a major expansion in the 1970’s Poly Foam installed 350 H.P. WOOD FIRED BOILER. This wood fired boiler converts scrap wood into steam that is used for both expansion and molding of Expanded Polystyrene Resin as well as for the heating of our production areas. This process keeps scrap wood out of our landfills and also conserves our natural gas consumption which is how many companies like Poly Foam run their manufacturing processes. An additional part of the expansion was the inclusion of a CLOSED LOOP COOLING WATER SYSTEM. The use of this cooling system in our production process has resulted in the savings of millions of gallons of water annually.
Our main raw material is Expanded Polystyrene Resin (EPS). EPS is environmentally friendly in that it does not contain any CFC, HCFC or HFC’s, which are harmful to the earth’s ozone layer nor will it contaminate the ground water supply if landfilled. EPS is a valuable contributor to both cost effective packaging and insulating processes. In packaging applications EPS extends and insures product cushioning predictability which reduces damage and breakage which keeps other products out of landfills. Its superior insulation performance insures conservation and a positive environmental impact of our energy related needs.
Poly Foam has long been aDESIGNATED RECYCLER OF EPS FOAM, both post-industrial as well as post-consumer. Poly Foam recycles almost 100% of our scrap manufacturing material as well as accepting post-consumer EPS from several sources throughout Minnesota. This material is densified into large blocks of EPS which is then shipped to several companies whose process converts this densified EPS into usable material that is then reintroduced into various manufacturing processes. In 2007 and 2008 Poly Foam recycled 463,290 and 464,386 pounds of post-industrial and post-consumer EPS respectively. In addition, Poly Foam also recycled 20.04 tons of corrugated material in 2007 and 12.73 tons of corrugated material in 2008. In 2008 we also recycled 1.2 tons of office paper products. The amount of both manufacturing and office material that ends up in a landfill is minimal. Through the conversion process discussed above nearly 100% of our scrap EPS is diverted away from the waste stream and re-introduced back into the manufacturing process.”
William S. Rogers
Vice President-Finance and Administration
Please contact us about recycling EPS foam we'll be happy to assist you. (952)445.4089 or
info@foam-mn.com