Recycle Your EPS

The EPS industry developed a nationwide collection infrastructure of more than 200 collection sites to support recycling efforts. The 2019 EPS Recycling Report shows that over 136 million pounds of EPS were recycled in 2018, including 46.4 million pounds of post-consumer packaging and 90.4 million pounds of post-industrial packaging. The 2019 Canadian Recycling Report shows 378 thousand kilograms (833 thousand pounds) post-consumer and 3.5 million kilograms (7.7 million pounds) post-industrial EPS was recycled. Learn more with EPS-IA’s Recycling Videos.

EPS can easily be recycled into new foam packaging or durable consumer goods. You can recycle your EPS packaging by taking it to a specified drop off location.
Note – a program may NOT exist in your area, but you can also recycle your EPS via our mail back program.

If there is no EPS recycling in your community, please send your EPS via the U.S. Postal Service or other carrier to the nearest mail-back location.

Average shipping fees range from $1.50-$9.00 based on the total packaging weight and volume. Since expanded polystyrene is extremely light weight (98% air) it can be economically shipped to a regional location. When factoring in the price per gallon of gas, the postage cost to return EPS for recycling is often an economical, environmentally-friendly choice depending on the distance covered to reach the closest community drop-off location.

To maximize your EPS recycling efforts via the mail-back option, we recommend the following:

1. Make sure the EPS is clean and free of any tape, plastic film, labels, loose parts or glued-on cardboard. Do not return any film plastics, food or medical waste or trash.

2. Increase the amount of EPS in each shipping container by breaking or cutting it into small pieces so that more can fit in a box.

3. When shipping EPS biomedical coolers, completely empty the cooler. Tape the top and bottom pieces together with packing tape and apply the label and postage directly to the cooler. An outer box is not necessary.

4. Mail back locations do not accept meat trays, cups, egg cartons or other disposable food service items for recycling.

5. Prepare a shipping label and affix postage for delivery to the nearest mail-back location.

6. To facilitate shipping from home, the United States Postal Service (USPS) provides numerous options for printing labels and /or postage using online resources. This convenience also allows you to have the shipment picked up by your local carrier as outbound mail and further minimizes environmental impacts.