U of L finds way to recycle styrofoam

When residents head to Lethbridge’s recycling depots, they get the message: We can’t recycle styrofoam.

Yes you can, officials at the University of Lethbridge have learned. Now the U of L has become the nation’s first university to run its own styrofoam recycling program.

Since last summer, it’s been collecting the bulky packaging material and having it processed. At the same time, purchasing officers have been asking suppliers to reduce the amount of styrofoam used in their packaging.

“We’re constantly looking at our waste operations and trying to recycle as much material as possible,” says Judy Jaeger, manager of facilities caretaking.

“Styrofoam is a particularly troublesome product because it does not break down very well and takes up considerable space in the landfill.”

The new approach, working with a Calgary company, sees the material shredded and then melted to form highly condensed blocks of plastic that are sold to be used by companies making toys or architectural moldings. The operator, StyroGo sends a recycling truck to the campus. “This process of recycling is highly efficient, reducing large quantities of styrofoam into small boxes of reuseable material,” Jaeger says.

While it costs more than simply taking the waste to the landfill, university officials say the benefits outweigh the costs.

Since its start, Jaeger says the U of L initiative has recycled 490 pounds of the material — equivalent to the volume of 4,000 basketballs, she estimates. And that’s reduced the university’s greenhouse gas production by nearly 1.7 tonnes.

With landfill tipping fees increasing across the nation, “We anticipate the financial incentive to recycle styrofoam will only increase.”