Resources for Recycling Expanded Polystyrene

Photo by Caleb Lucas on Unsplash

Expanded polystyrene, or EPS, is a lightweight, closed-cell plastic foam used in a variety of products, including coolers, insulated beverage cups, takeout containers, building insulation, etc. This differs from extruded polystyrene (XPS), which is typically formed into rigid panels used for building insulation, mainly in terms of how it is manufactured, but also in terms of thermal protection, moisture resistance, and strength. Styrofoam is a brand name of XPS insulation manufactured by DuPont. Despite these differences, the similar products have become synonymous in the minds of most people, and just as certain brand names for facial tissue and bandages eventually became the common terms for those products, most people refer to EPS products as “Styrofoam.” In this blog post, when you read “EPS” or “expanded polystyrene,” know that this refers to the materials you likely think of as “Styrofoam” packaging–though DuPont would be quick to point out they’re not the same thing!

For several years, departments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been encouraged to recycle EPS at a drop-off location just outside the Dart Container plant in Urbana, IL. Recycling EPS is often not economically feasible basically because foam packaging is mostly air, and the fuel needed to ship large amounts of the bulky, lightweight material for processing would often not be offset by money obtained by selling it. Dart manufactures EPS products however, and thus, accepting and recycling it is in line with a sense of extended producer responsibility for the management of those products at their end-of-life, especially since EPS pollution famously takes hundreds of years to break down in the environment. The Urbana Dart plant used equipment to heat, extrude, and compress foam packaging into blocks of material that could be used for products such as picture frames, surfboards, or park benches. This YouTube video shows a similar operation in a California plant.

Earlier this year, however, Dart unfortunately announced that the Urbana plant would be closing by the end of 2023. While this is tragic mainly due to the loss of jobs and the potential blow to the local economy, it also means the loss of an outlet many people relied upon to keep EPS packaging out of the landfill. In fact, the City of Champaign ‘Where Do I Recycle It?’ resource reports that Dart closed their Styrofoam drop-off center in Urbana on Friday, September 29, 2023.

Obviously, the best approach, even before the sad news about Dart’s Urbana plant was announced, has always been to avoid EPS products whenever possible precisely because of the difficulties in recycling the material. But avoidance isn’t always possible for consumers, especially since EPS is so widely used in food and beverage packaging, to protect breakable products, and to regulate the temperature of various items during shipping—including items intended for laboratories. So, while alternatives are important to explore (and might be the subject of a future post), this post focuses on options that might help people in Champaign County divert EPS in the near term. Although the inspiration for this post is the change in opportunities to recycle EPS locally, many of the options below are applicable in other parts of the state or U.S.

Other foam drop-off sites (for those not in Champaign County)

To be clear, Dart is not going out of business or closing all its facilities, and the company does still offer public drop-off EPS collection points at various places in the U.S., including elsewhere in IL—just not in the Champaign-Urbana area anymore. To find out whether there’s a Dart public drop-off near you, visit https://www.dartcontainer.com/why-dart/sustainability/foam-recycling and search their map.

The Food Service Packaging Institute’s website includes a map showing EPS foam recycling drop-off sites throughout the U.S. and includes some basic information about foam recycling. See https://www.recyclefoam.org/about-foam-recycling to learn more and to search for a drop-off near you.

Dart’s Next Life Program

Besides their public drop-off collections, in April 2023 Dart also announced a mail-in product take back program called Next Life. This program is restricted to Dart brand products, but it is not restricted to EPS—Dart packaging made from paper (specifically from the Bare by Solo brand), polyethylene terephthalate (PET, #1), polypropylene (PP, #5) and expanded polystyrene (#6 foam) are all acceptable products. This program is not free, or particularly easy, however. To participate, consumers can visit https://take-back.dartcontainer.com/ and indicate which of these three packaging categories they’re interested in recycling. Then “proof of purchase” images must be uploaded, which might be in the form of scanned store receipts, invoices, or product photos. Once the images are uploaded, the consumer must then purchase a “discounted shipping label” by paying for flat rate shipping for the material ($9 for a maximum box size of 20″ x 30″ x 11” when the process was tested during the writing of this post). The purchased label can be printed out and used to ship the items back to Dart.

While this is better than nothing, the process is convoluted and inconvenient for consumers and is restricted to Dart products. Only die-hard individual environmental advocates, or organizations and businesses committed to zero waste, are likely to jump through the necessary hoops and pay to participate. Coupled with efforts to reduce relevant types of waste or avoid them altogether, this program can help keep some remaining unavoidable packaging out of landfills, so it’s worth keeping in mind.

Terracycle Zero Waste Box

If your organization or business generates a fair amount of EPS waste, you may wish to consider Terracycle’s “Styrofoam – Zero Waste Box™” as an option for recycling all sorts of EPS food packaging and shipping waste, so long as there is no food or other organics contamination on the foam. You buy a collection box with a pre-paid shipping label, seal it when full and send it back to Terracycle. This is very convenient but expensive—the box comes in three size options, with the smallest (11”x 11” x 20”)  costing $107. There are discounts for purchasing collection boxes in bulk (15+).

Packing Peanuts (Loose Fill)

EPS foam packing peanuts (aka loose fill packaging) were never accepted as part of Dart’s public recycling drop-off in Urbana. Local shipping businesses may accept them for reuse, however, as long as they’re clean and dry. It’s always advisable to call these companies first to confirm they will accept these before taking any to their location. The City of Champaign “Where Do I Recycle” page suggests contacting the UPS Store on Marketview Drive in Champaign, or CU Pack N Ship (formerly Mail & Parcel Plus). Note that the foam recycling map at https://www.recyclefoam.org/about-foam-recycling, mentioned above, can be searched specifically for loose fill recycling options.

Polystyrene Coolers

Many local laboratories, including those on the University of Urbana-Champaign campus, receive materials in polystyrene coolers. Laboratories should keep in mind that Millipore Sigma has a polystyrene cooler return program for U.S. customers, which is relatively easy and free for the consumer. See https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/services/support/recycling/polystyrene-cooler-return-program for details.

Several sources related to laboratory waste recycling suggest that New England Biolabs (NEB) have a similar polystyrene cooler take-back program, but that information seems to be out of date because NEB no longer uses EPS coolers. NEB now ships its products in an alternative to EPS, called the ClimaCell® cooler, created in conjunction with TemperPack, which is 100% recyclable. See https://www.neb.com/en-us/tools-and-resources/video-library/introducing-the-neb-climacell-cooler to learn more. If your laboratory or other business ships items that require temperature control, you might consider contacting TemperPack for options that suit your needs. See https://www.temperpack.com/climacell/.

Corning Packaging Take Back

Laboratories should also be aware that Corning will take back all Corning®, Falcon®, or Axygen® product packaging—including EPS centrifuge tube racks. Other acceptable wastes include pipette tip boxes and plastic bags and peelable lidding film paper from cell culture dishes, plates, and flasks, #2 or #4 only. See https://corning.mailthisback.com/ for further details and to print a pre-paid shipping label.

Other Mail-Back Options

Finally, the EPS Industry Alliance has a list of mail-back options at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62e5bccd5d8f2e718d48d121/t/643ff95d6ef7d36ad9920d25/1686167676074/EPS+Mail+Back+Locations.pdf. There are eight locations in the Midwest region, though none are in IL.

Hopefully, these resources will help you divert unavoidable EPS from landfills. Are you aware of other EPS recycling programs? Share your knowledge with our zero waste team at istc-zerowaste@illinois.edu.

New law fosters farmers’ fresh produce donations to Illinois food banks

With Governor JB Pritzker’s signature on House Bill 2879, the Farm to Food Bank Program has been established in Illinois. The program helps farmers donate their surplus produce to local food banks and assists more than 1 million Illinoisans facing food insecurity. An ongoing three-year Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) effort, which includes a feasibility study and pilot projects, has proven that the program can be successful in Illinois.

“This new law recognizes that we have a lot of residents facing hunger and a lot of surplus food on farms,” said Zach Samaras, ISTC technical assistance engineer and project director. “This program will support farmers with a secondary market, provide local, nutritious food to those in need, and reduce wasted food and wasted resources at the farm.”

The ISTC feasibility study began in 2020 when Feeding Illinois, the association of Feeding America food banks serving the state, commissioned ISTC to discover if the Farm to Food Bank Program is needed, wanted, and achievable in Illinois. ISTC staff visited eight food banks to learn about any existing relationships with local farmers and interviewed organization personnel that manage similar programs in 14 other states. In partnership with the Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Specialty Growers Association, they also surveyed and conducted focus groups with Illinois farmers.

Over 60 percent of farmers surveyed were interested in finding new markets for some or all their commodities. The barriers to donating or selling food to food banks were primarily packing and labor expenses, storage, and transportation. 

In 2022, ISTC coordinated six pilot projects that resulted in donations of nearly 2.5 million pounds of produce that would have otherwise gone to waste, yielding nearly 990,000 meals. Feeding Illinois received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provided $611,000 to reimburse farmers for some of their expenses incurred in donating produce. 

“We learned from our focus groups that farmers want to donate their surplus food, but that it should not be a burden on them financially to pick produce, package it, and deliver it to food banks,” Samaras said. “This program provides a safety net for farmers so they can grow a few extra acres for their primary markets, knowing that if they don’t sell everything, there is a program that can help them recoup some costs and make sure that the food is going to end up on someone’s plate.”

The newly signed law will invest $2 million to support already strained food banks and the farmers who donate food. The law also provides grants for capital improvements to transport and store food for underserved communities, which often lack the resources for residents to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables.

Links for more information about the feasibility study, Farm to Food Bank survey resultspilot projects, and a 2022 summary report are available on the ISTC Technical Assistance Program website. ISTC is a unit of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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Media contacts: Zach Samaras, 217-265-6723, zsamaras@illinois.edu; Joy Scrogum, 217-333-8948, jscrogum@illinois.edu.

Back-to-School tips for more sustainable supplies

office supplies
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

It hardly seems possible, but August is just around the corner, and for many K-12 schools and institutions of higher education in Illinois, that means it’s back-to-school season. Whether you’re a parent with a school supply list in hand, a college student preparing for a new semester, or just someone in the market for office supplies, the following suggestions can help you make more sustainable choices as a consumer.

Please note that ISTC does not endorse, either explicitly or implicitly, any manufacturer, brand, vendor, product, or service. Information about specific products, brands, manufacturers, or vendors is provided for reference only and should not be construed as an endorsement. Also, please be aware that this list of suggestions and alternatives to consider is by no means exhaustive and is meant simply to inspire you to be more intentional in your consumption and to consider the impacts of everyday items.

First, shop your own supplies & reuse/use up what you already have.

Parents of elementary-aged children will likely relate to the experience of kids cleaning out their lockers or desks at the end of a school year and bringing home partially used notebooks, used folders, pens, pencils, etc. While it’s possible that some items from the previous academic year are nearly worn out, or that these items might be used up over the summer for non-school activities, it’s also likely that at least some tools and supplies will still have useful life left when it’s time to begin a new school year. Designate a closet, shelf, or storage bin in your home or office to store school or office supplies that aren’t currently in use, so that when you need such supplies, you can quickly check your existing inventory and draw from it before you go shopping. Establishing this habit will save both money and the resources used to manufacture the supplies in question.

Shop for gently or never used supplies at a creative reuse center.

If the items you need aren’t part of your existing inventory, check to see if there is a creative reuse center in or near your community. These centers accept donations of supplies for art and education, as well as non-traditional materials that might be used for arts, crafts, school projects, lessons, and home décor, which would otherwise be sent to the landfill. These “non-traditional materials” might be hard-to-recycle items, or simply objects of visual or textural interest that might be transformed in a creative way. Examples of creative reuse include painting an old tin and using it as a planter, turning fabric scraps into a quilt, or making a collage from colorful buttons, bottle caps, or photos. Donations to creative reuse centers typically come from businesses, manufacturers, local institutions, and members of the general public. Such centers then resell the donated items for profit or to support charitable organizations or initiatives while reducing waste and encouraging reuse. Think of them as thrift stores focused on art and office supplies. Some donated items have never been used. Like checking your own inventory before buying new, shopping at creative reuse centers will not only conserve resources by ensuring products remain in use and out of landfills for as long as possible, but they also typically save consumers money as compared to shopping for brand new items. So, once you’ve checked your own inventory of supplies, check your community’s pool of supplies. Multiple creative reuse centers exist in Illinois. Champaign-Urbana is served by the Idea Store, while the WasteShed operates creative reuse centers in Chicago and Evanston. Chicago is also served by Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange (CCRx). SCARCE serves DuPage County and is in Addison, IL. Springfield residents can shop at the Creative Reuse Marketplace. Keep in mind that other resale shops and thrift stores might also have office supplies, so if your community doesn’t have a creative reuse center, you might still be able to find “new to you” supplies that would otherwise have been wasted. Creative reuse centers can be found throughout the U.S., so if you’re reading this from outside Illinois, do an Internet search for “creative reuse center + [name of your state].”

Choose refurbished devices and remanufactured ink and toner cartridges.

Continuing the theme of reusing existing products before buying new ones, if you’re in the market for a new laptop or other electronic device, consider searching for a certified refurbished device first. While you would be wise to think twice before purchasing “used” items from a complete stranger on a platform like eBay or Craigslist, certified refurbished items have been restored to “like new” condition and verified by technicians to be fully functional. Quality is thus not an issue. But because these items can’t be sold as new, they’re typically available at a discount when compared to genuinely new items. Another win-win for the conservation of resources and money! Many companies such as Best Buy, Dell, or Amazon make it easy for consumers to find refurbished devices in their online stores. The downside of shopping for refurbished tech is that you can’t guarantee you’ll find the exact model or item you’re looking for at the precise time you search; it depends on what is available.

There are also non-profit and for-profit organizations throughout the U.S. which refurbish electronics (typically donated) and resell them at a discounted price to individuals who might otherwise not be able to afford such equipment. These organizations address both social and environmental aspects of sustainability, helping to bridge the digital divide while extending the useful life of products and stemming the ever-growing tide of e-waste. Keeping these entities in mind is great if you or someone you know needs help obtaining a device, or, on the other hand, if you’d like to donate an older device so someone else can benefit from it. You’ll find that reputable businesses in this sector can provide certification of data destruction, so security need not be a concern. Some of these organizations include a job training program, enhancing their positive impacts on communities. Some may also provide electronics recycling services to businesses, responsibly recycling devices that can’t be reused, and refurbishing and redistributing those that can. REcompute began in Champaign-Urbana, IL, and has expanded to Danville, IL, Los Angeles, CA, and is coming soon to Atlanta, GA. PCs for People has ten locations in the U.S., including two in IL (Oak Forest and Belleville). Free Geek began in Portland, OR, and multiple communities in the U.S. and abroad have started their own independent Free Geek organizations. Repowered in St. Paul, MN, is another example.

Remanufactured ink and toner cartridges have been professionally cleaned, refilled, and tested, decreasing demand for the plastics and other materials used to create the cartridges themselves. Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) have even shown that remanufactured cartridges have lower environmental impacts than brand-new cartridges. And again, you’ll save money as well as resources by practicing reuse.

Choose items that are refillable.

If you must buy a brand-new item, look for options that will foster future reuse through refilling. The classic example (and the one most likely to be compatible with K-12 supply lists) is choosing a refillable fountain, gel, or ballpoint pen instead of a disposable one. There are plenty of examples of such pens, but one that also incorporates recycled content is Pilot’s B2P or Bottle 2 Pen. B2P is made from recycled beverage bottles, is available as a ball-point or gel roller, and uses the same ink refill cartridges (available in several colors) that work in several other Pilot pens. For more info, see https://pilotpen.us/FindBrand and select “Bottle 2 Pen B2P” from the drop-down menu. The pens are 86-89% recycled content depending on pen type; product descriptions for the ball points say they are 83% post-consumer recycled material.

Mechanical pencils are a similar refillable option that immediately comes to mind. Bic produces an example of a mechanical pencil with recycled plastic content.

Refillable notebooks give you the compact feel of a spiral-bound notebook, as compared to a bulky three-ring binder, but like binders, allow you to insert new pages as needed or rearrange the order of notes. Some examples include Kokuyo Binder Notebooks, Lihit Lab, Filofax, and Minbok.

Dry erase markers are even available in refillable versions, such as the Pilot V Board Master or those from Auspen. The Stabilo Boss is an example of a refillable highlighter. Permanent markers such as those from Pilot can be refilled. Refillable acrylic markers are also available from brands like Montana. Crayola also has a DIY Marker Maker set, but they unfortunately don’t sell a refill pack. However, these could conceivably be refilled with inks available from other companies.

Choose new items made from recycled materials and look for high PCR content.

If refillable options aren’t available or applicable to some supplies on your list, try to find options made from recycled materials. When comparing options, examine product labels and descriptions for the percentage of “post-consumer recycled” content or “PCR.” These are materials that have been used by consumers and collected via recycling programs, so when you buy a product with the highest amount of PCR you can, you are genuinely “closing the loop” and making recycling effective and economically feasible by helping to create market demand for recycled materials. You’ve probably read articles about materials collected for recycling that ultimately don’t get recycled because there’s a lack of market for the commodities. That sort of thing has led some community recycling collection programs to stop altogether or to stop accepting certain materials. But most of the time, if a recycling collection program accepts a material it’s because they have an outlet for it; it wouldn’t make sense to collect materials that couldn’t be sold. The best things you can do as a consumer is to keep recycling the proper materials accepted by your local program, keep items NOT accepted by your collection program out of your recycling bins (contaminants can indeed ruin batches of materials collected or harm equipment at waste sorting and processing facilities), AND whenever possible, buy items with PCR content. Note that if a product is described as having a certain percentage of recycled content but there’s no mention of PCR, it’s likely that the recycled content is post-industrial (aka pre-consumer) rather than post-consumer. That entails excess materials or trimmings from a manufacturing process used as feedstock for the creation of the same or different products without ever being used by a consumer first (e.g., cardboard trimmings repulped and put back into the process of making boxes). Odds are, if a company has successfully incorporated PCR into their products, they will want to point it out on the label or in the product description/details in online stores. This blog post from EcoEnclose provides a good overview of PCR vs. post-industrial content.

That said, here are just a few examples of common supplies made from PCR (besides those already mentioned above). You can find more by searching the Internet for “PCR content + [product].”

  • Standard (non-mechanical) pencils can be made from recycled newspaper, like these from Amber and Rose.
  • Decomposition notebooks, sketchbooks, and filler paper are made from 100% PCR paper. They also offer refillable ball-point pens made from 90% PCR plastic and three-ring binders made from 85% PCR plastic.
  • Everyday Recycler provides this list of backpacks containing recycled plastic.
  • 100% PCR printer paper is available, such as that from Printworks, AbilityOne, or Target.
  • ACCO paper clips contain 90% recycled materials, 50% of which is PCR.

Hopefully, this has given you some ideas for considerations and criteria to keep in mind when looking for school and office supplies. There are certainly other product categories and other factors that can be considered (e.g. more renewable materials, plastic-free items, items manufactured with renewable energy, etc.), but the suggestions above are a great start. Students, good luck in your classes, and may everyone else be productive while also conserving resources!

Celebrate Plastic-Free July: Atypical tips to reduce your use of single-use plastics

Plastic Free July Badge

In a 2017 article in the journal Science Advances, researchers Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck, and Kara Lavender Law estimated that as of 2015 “approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.” With microplastics having been detected in virtually every habitat on Earth, including the ocean floor, and in a variety of organisms, including humans, it’s easy to understand why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution, as described in a previous post (Note: The deadline for the public comment period has been extended to July 31, 2023, so don’t miss out on the chance to read the strategy and provide feedback). It’s also easy to understand why delegates from nearly 180 countries came together in Paris recently, to discuss what would be the first legally binding global treaty to reduce plastic pollution. The first draft of that treaty is scheduled to be developed by November 2023, with a goal of having a final agreement in force by 2025.

For a dozen years now, people have taken time in July to consider ways they might help stem the tide of plastic pollution. Plastic Free July is an initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation which began in 2011 and has grown into a global movement to reduce single-use plastic consumption and pollution. You can sign up to take the Plastic Free July Challenge, and receive weekly emails in July to inspire and motivate your plastic reduction efforts. To help get you started the Plastic Free July website offers tips on ways to reduce single-use plastic. You can probably guess some of the tips which have become common mantras among those interested in waste reduction, such as using a refillable mug instead of accepting single-use coffee cups or bringing reusable bags when you go grocery shopping instead of packing your items home in plastic carrier bags. But the tips below might surprise you and inspire you to think about just how ubiquitous single-use plastic has become.

Note: ISTC does not endorse, either explicitly or implicitly, any particular manufacturer, vendor, product, or service. Information about specific products, manufacturers or vendors is provided for reference only.

  • Chew less gum and/or opt for plastic-free alternatives. It may surprise you to know that chewing gum, based on the indigenous tradition of chewing natural rubber called chicle, involves single-use plastic in its actual substance and not just in its packaging. According to the website Plastic Free Shopper, “Most modern chewing gums have what’s known as a gum base which makes up the majority of the chewing gum. This synthetic rubbery substance is commonly made from ingredients including: Butadiene-styrene rubber Isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (butyl rubber); Paraffin (via the Fischer-Tropsch process); Petroleum wax; Polyethylene; Polyisobutylene; Polyvinyl acetate. This synthetic plastic/rubber gum base is mixed with sweeteners and flavourings to make up regular chewing gum as we know it. Ingredients such as Polyethylene and Polyvinyl acetate are both common forms of plastic. Polyethylene is found in items such as plastic bottles and food containers, and Polyvinyl acetate is used in glues and adhesives.” So, when people spit their gum out on the sidewalk, they’re not just littering and setting the innocent up for sticky shoes–they’re also contributing to plastic pollution. If you enjoy chewing gum, a simple way to reduce your single-use plastic consumption is to opt for brands made with natural chicle, such as Simply Gum or Glee, among others.
  • Take plastic out of your water filtration equation. If you’re avoiding water in disposable plastic bottles, odds are you might be using a reusable bottle or pitcher with a filter. However, the more popular units for this purpose still incorporate plastic in the filters. In October 2022, editors of The Good Trade shared their top five plastic-free water filtration options. It should be noted that most of these are pretty pricey and the filter cartridges for the plastic-free vessels still tend to incorporate some small amount of plastic. But the Kishu charcoal stick option is quite affordable, completely plastic-free, and after its days as a water filter are over, the sticks can be composted, put out in your garden, or reused to absorb odors in your refrigerator.
  • Quit smoking—or encourage a friend or family member to do so if you’re a non-smoker. There are obvious health-related reasons to do this, but did you know that cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic pollution? A 2019 review article in Environmental Research explained that “Cigarette butts (CB) are the most frequent form of personal item found on beaches. Yearly, 6 trillion cigarettes are smoked worldwide, and 4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered in the environment.” Once they have become litter, cigarette butts degrade into microplastics. E-cigarettes and plastic vape cartridges also contribute to the plastic pollution problem, as well as contributing to the burgeoning tide of e-waste (that’s another post for another day). Learn more at “Plastics, the Environment, and the Tobacco Industry,” an online resource from the University of Bath.
  • Dispose of pet poo without plastics. If you have a dog, or a cat whose litter box needs to be scooped, disposable plastic bags are probably a commonly used tool. It’s definitely important to pick up your dog’s poo during a walk (see this article from The Guardian and this page from the Dooloop website for more on the environmental impacts of your best friend’s excrement), but there are ways to take care of this business with less petroleum-based plastic. The Dog People list their choices for plant-based pet waste bags that are “compostable under the right conditions.” If you have a yard with available space, you might also consider a separate compost pile or bin for pet waste (avoid using this compost on your fruit or vegetable garden to prevent the spread of parasites, but feel free to fertilize your flowers and other ornamental plants). Doogie Dooley offers in-ground digester systems for breaking down dog waste (they’re not compatible with cat waste, sadly), and though all incorporate plastic lids, there is a model with a steel tank. I Love a Clean San Diego also highlights some pooper scoopers and disposal tips that allow you to pick up waste without using a dedicated plastic bag.
  • Reduce your use of laser printers and copiers when possible. We all know that printer ink and toner cartridges contribute to the plastic waste stream, so many of us recycle our spent cartridges and purchase remanufactured ones to reduce consumption of virgin plastics. But did you ever stop to think about what laser printer and copier toner is made of? Spoiler alert—toner is mostly made of plastic. We’ve all seen reminders to print documents or emails only when necessary to save paper, but it turns out, this is a good tip to avoid plastic consumption too. If you’ve ever added shredded office paper or junk mail printed on non-slick paper to your compost bin, you might reconsider and put those in the paper recycling bin instead. Toner starts out as a collection of microplastics, so when that printed paper breaks down in a compost pile, you might be inadvertently releasing those into your environment. This Federal Electronics Challenge resource from the US EPA includes tips for reducing paper and ink usage. See this post from CDW on the differences between ink and toner, and you might also consider bio-based toner options available in your country. Some of these reduce the amount of petroleum-based plastic involved by using powder made from soybean oil. Some bio-based toners also use a percentage of bio-plastics for the cartridges themselves, such as https://pelikan-printing.com/biobased and https://www.union-tec.com/print-rite-bio-based-toner-cartridges/.

This post is already quite long, so we’ll stop at five tips, but there are many more ways to reduce single-use plastics. What are your favorites? Share your thoughts on social media.

Help #BeatPlasticPollution on World Environment Day June 5th

World Environment Day 2023 banner

World Environment Day (WED) is an annual event celebrated on June 5th which raises awareness of environmental issues and encourages people across the globe to take action to protect our shared environment. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated June 5th as World Environment Day in 1972, marking the first day of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. That same day, they adopted another resolution creating the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP coordinated the first celebration of WED in 1973, and it has led celebrations ever since. This year’s theme is #BeatPlasticPollution, shining a light on this worldwide issue (see past themes at https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/about/history). This year’s host country is Côte d’Ivoire in partnership with the Netherlands. Since 2014, Côte d’Ivoire has banned the use of plastic bags, supporting a shift to reusable packaging, and the country’s largest city, Abidjan, has also become a hub for environmentally minded start-ups.

As described in a previous post, plastics, including micro- and nanoplastics, are ubiquitous in our environment, even leaking from plastic recycling facilities. Microplastics are found in a variety of organisms, including humans. Recognizing the need for action, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution in April and is seeking public comment through June 16, 2023.

On its WED website, UNEP provides a Beat Plastic Pollution Practical Guide, with recommendations for individuals; non-governmental organizations, faith organizations, and community groups; science and education organizations; governments; cities, towns, and local authorities; investors; and businesses and industry. The guide outlines how plastic pollution affects us, the sources of plastic pollution, what progress is being made, and what more needs to be done to address the situation.

Cover page of UNEP "Turning off the Tap" reportThe WED website also links to an interactive lesson on the plastic pollution problem and the UNEP report, Turning off the Tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy, which was released on May 16, 2023. This report examines the economic and business models needed to address the impacts of the plastics economy. UNEP suggests “a systems change to address the causes of plastic pollution, combining reducing problematic and unnecessary plastic use with a market transformation towards circularity in plastics. This can be achieved by accelerating three key shifts – reuse, recycle, and reorient and diversify – and actions to deal with the legacy of plastic pollution.” They explain that “reorient and diversify” “refers to shifting the market towards sustainable plastic alternatives, which will require a shift in consumer demand, regulatory frameworks and costs.”

Finally, the WED site provides relevant news, updates related to this year’s celebration, an opportunity to register your organization’s relevant events or activities, and links to other UNEP reports related to the global plastic pollution problem.

What strategies do you use to reduce plastic consumption and pollution? Share your thoughts on social media this June 5th with the hashtag #BeatPlasticPollution. You can connect with UNEP on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Learn More

 

U.S. EPA seeks feedback on draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution

Plastic debris on a beach with water in the background.
Debris at Magee Wildlife Area near Oak Harbor, OH. (Credit: NOAA)

Although plastics have led to many positive innovations that have benefitted human society (e.g. less expensive medical devices, more portable electronic devices, increased fuel efficiency of vehicles made with plastic incorporated in their bodies, etc.), it is clear that plastic pollution is an ever-growing problem that threatens human and environmental health. When considering the fate of all plastic ever produced, Geyer et al. estimated that as of 2015, “approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.” [Note: Mt=million metric tons] In its 2022 report, Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stated that “Widespread plastics use and inadequate prevention measures have led to persistent plastic leakage. In 2019 an estimated 22 Mt of plastics leaked into the environment. The largest leakage source (82%) is mismanaged waste, i.e. waste that is inadequately disposed of. Other sources are abrasion and losses of microplastics (12%), littering (5%) and marine activities (1%).” They define “mismanaged waste” as “Waste that is not captured by any state-of-the-art waste collection or treatment facilities. It includes waste that is burned in open pits, dumped into seas or open waters, or disposed of in unsanitary landfills and dumpsites.” Even when plastics are collected and processed at a recycling facility, there is still potential for pollution. A study published this month in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances describes the analysis of wastewater from a UK plastics recycling facility before and after filters were installed. While filters decreased the discharge of microplastics, even with the filters in place, the total discharge from the multiple washes used in processing could produce up to 75 billion particles per cubic meter of wastewater. If these findings are extrapolated across the whole of the plastics recycling industry, the potential pollution from plastic recycling facilities alone is mind-boggling.

Plastics in the environment break down into smaller and smaller pieces over time. The full extent of the impacts of micro- and nano-plastics on Earth’s ecosystems is unknown, but we do know that wildlife may ingest plastic accidentally when eating food waste contained in plastic, because of visual similarities of plastics to their food sources, and in some cases because the plastic smells like food. When prey animals consume plastic, their predators ingest the plastic along with the prey. Even humans can ingest plastic in this way, and microplastics can also be inhaled. Microplastics are found worldwide, even in protected areas. They have been found in sea ice in the Arctic and on the ocean floor. They’ve even been found in human breast milk.

Given the scale and ubiquity of plastic pollution, in April 2023 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution This builds upon EPA’s National Recycling Strategy, focusing on means to reduce, reuse, collect, and capture plastic waste.

image of national strategy cover pageEPA has identified three key objectives for the strategy. The draft strategy document lists proposed actions associated with each objective.

  • Objective A: Reduce pollution during plastic production. This entails designing products for reuse and recycling, using less impactful materials, phasing out unnecessary products, and ensuring proper controls at plastic production facilities.
  • Objective B: Improve post-use materials management. This involves the pursuit of circularity through pathways susch as reuse, refilling, and composting.
  • Objective C: Prevent trash and micro/nanoplastics from entering waterways and remove escaped trash from the environment. The pursuit of this objective may involve policy, programs, technical assistance, compliance assurance efforts, improved water management, improved measurement, increased public awareness, and further research.

Read the full draft strategy at https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-04/Draft_National_Strategy_to_Prevent_Plastic_Pollution.pdf. An executive summary is also available.

EPA has opened a public comment period on this draft national strategy. Comments are due on or before June 16, 2023. EPA is asking the public to consider several key questions when reviewing and commenting on the draft strategy. To see these questions and learn more about how to submit your comments, see https://www.epa.gov/circulareconomy/draft-national-strategy-prevent-plastic-pollution#feedback.

Registration open for International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) events

ICAW 2023 graphic

The Illinois Food Scrap & Composting Coalition (IFSCC), a non-profit organization that advances the diversion and composting of all organics in the state, has announced its International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) 2023 programming. ISTC is an organizational member of IFSCC and the Technical Assistance Program’s zero waste team is actively involved in IFSCC and its committees.

ICAW is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the global compost community. The 2023 ICAW theme is “For Healthier Soil … Healthier Food, Compost!” and the 2023 dates are Sunday, May 7 – Saturday, May 13. Learn more about ICAW on the Compost Research and Education Foundation website.

Since 2021, the IFSCC has planned robust ICAW programming that combines in-person and hands-on experiences with virtual discussions and presentations to reach diverse and widespread audiences at all stages of life and composting experience. The 2023 line-up includes a day of “Adventures in Composting” with farmers, gardeners, and backyard composters around the state; a virtual International Cafe at which composting stories from around the world will be shared; a virtual Legislative Lunch & Learn; and multiple opportunities throughout the week to attend library programs and obtain finished compost.

Visit https://illinoiscomposts.org/icaw-2023/ to learn more. This page on the IFSCC website includes:

  • An expandable schedule of events, event map, and registration links for virtual events;
  • A toolkit for libraries throughout IL to use for relevant programming during ICAW;
  • Links to further information on international ICAW activities;
  • Links to connect with ICAW on social media;
  • Highlights from last year’s programming, including recordings of virtual events; and
  • Bios for the co-chairs of the IFSCC ICAW planning committee, Kate Caldwell and Merleanne Rampale.

Finally, if you’re new to composting, check out this recent blog post from TAP, which includes resources for a variety of home composting methods: https://green-lunchroom.istc.illinois.edu/2023/04/05/composting-at-home-videos-upcoming-webinars-other-resources-for-beginners/.

ICAW info poster from IFSCC

Farm to Food Bank project publishes 2022 year in review report

Friend of the Food Banks signage

As previously reported on the ISTC blog, the Farm to Food Bank program recently developed six case studies highlighting work with farmers during the 2022 growing season. Each case study includes a summary of the project, as well as lessons learned. Pilot project models included food flowing from farm to food bank, farm to food pantry, and utilizing aggregation sites.

Now the program has releasedIllinois Farm to Food Bank Program 2022 Year in Review.” This report outlines all the different pilot projects that occurred in 2022 along with key takeaways. It also details central challenges and opportunities that exist in expanding this statewide program. The report was authored by the ISTC Technical Assistance Program (TAP) Zero Waste Program, in collaboration with Steve Ericson of Feeding Illinois.

Learn more about the Farm to Food Bank project on the TAP website and the Feeding Illinois website. You may view the complete list of Farm to Food Bank project publications on IDEALS.

ISTC is proud to be a 2023 Food Waste Prevention Week Partner

Food Waste Prevention Week Partner logo

Mark your calendars for Food Waste Prevention Week, scheduled to take place April 10-16 this year. In 2018 alone, EPA estimates that about 63 million tons of wasted food were generated in the commercial, institutional, and residential sectors. Food Waste Prevention Week is a collaborative effort to raise awareness about food waste and its negative impacts on our society and environment, while also sharing resources to help individuals, families, and organizations reduce their own food waste. Because its Technical Assistance Program (TAP) has experience working on food waste reduction and management projects, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center is proud to be a partner organization for Food Waste Prevention Week!

Be sure to check ISTC’s social media platforms during April 10-16th, as we highlight some of the past and present work TAP is doing related to food waste. We’ll also share links to relevant blog posts, websites, videos, and other resources to help you on your food waste reduction journey. If you’re not already following us on social media, you can connect with us on:

Throughout the week, several partners across the U.S. will host webinars to inspire action to reduce food waste. For example:

  • Local Solutions: Food Waste Prevention Week. On Monday, April 10 at noon Central time, join the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for a presentation featuring Food For the Soul, Hamilton County R3Source, Food Shift, and Alameda County StopWaste. County recycling experts and food rescuers will talk about valuing food, ensuring good food gets eaten, and how they share their stories with the community. Register here.
  • The Sustainable Management of Food on the U.S.-México Border. On Wednesday, April 12 at 12:30 PM Central, U.S. EPA Region 9 will present on food waste prevention, recovery, and recycling strategies, policies, and practices for and by border-adjacent communities. Register here.
  • School Food Recovery: Inventory Management, Share Tables, Smarter Lunchrooms and Food Donations. Also on April 12, at 1 PM Central, you can learn about food recovery in Florida schools. Guest speakers from Orange County Public Schools will provide key takeaways from their efforts to increase consumption, decrease waste, and donate excess food. Register here. [Note: Topics covered relate to TAP’s past Green Lunchroom Challenge project and efforts on a food waste reduction toolkit for IL Schools, though neither ISTC nor the Wasted Food Action Alliance is involved in planning or presenting this webinar.]
  • Food Rescue 101 for Commercial Kitchens. From 11 AM to noon Central on April 12, zero-waste specialist and Careit CEO Alyson Schill takes restaurants, food-based nonprofits, institutions, and other kitchen staff on a journey of food waste in commercial food establishments. Participants will learn: Why reducing food waste benefits businesses and communities; techniques to reduce food loss; successful food donation with the Careit app; and how to compost the rest for healthy soils. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-waste-prevention-rescue-and-composting-101-tickets-591691664697[Note: The topics covered in this webinar relate to an ongoing collaborative effort between TAP and UI Extension focused on greater Chicagoland, though neither of those organizations is involved in planning or presenting this webinar.]

See https://www.foodwastepreventionweek.com/webinars for additional webinars scheduled for Food Waste Prevention Week, and learn more about other ways you can get involved at https://www.foodwastepreventionweek.com/get-involved.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding now available to support recycling and composting

Three colorful bins, labelled "Compost," "Waste," and "Recycle" sit side by side. Each bin's label shows photos of materials that should be placed inside.
Photo by Nareeta Martin on Unsplash

On November 17, 2022 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of $100 million in grants for recycling infrastructure and recycling education and outreach projects throughout the country.

The Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) Grant Program is divided into several funding opportunities. Information on the State and Territory Grant Program and the Political Subdivisions Grant Program is currently available on the U. S. EPA website, with information on the Tribal Grant Program coming soon.

SWIFR Political Subdivisions Grant Program

Entities eligible to apply for funding through the SWIFR Political Subdivisions Grant Program include “Political subdivisions” of states and territories, such as counties, cities, towns, parishes, and similar units of governments that have executive and legislative functions to be political subdivisions of states and territories.

Applications Due: January 16, 2023
Notice of Intent to Apply Deadline: December 15, 2022
Funding Available: The minimum individual award amount is $500,000 and the maximum individual award is $4,000,000 for the grant period.
Grant Period: Up to 3 years

Materials and waste streams considered under this announcement include:

  • Municipal solid waste (MSW), including plastics, organics, paper, metal, glass, etc. and construction and demolition (C&D) debris.
  • In addition, materials and waste streams considered include the management pathways of source reduction, reuse, sending materials to material recovery facilities, composting, industrial uses (e.g., rendering, anaerobic digestion (AD)), and feeding animals.

All applications must achieve one or more of the following objectives:

  • Establish, increase, expand, or optimize collection and improve materials management infrastructure.
  • Fund the creation and construction of tangible infrastructure, technology, or other improvements to reduce contamination in the recycled materials stream.
  • Establish, increase, expand, or optimize capacity for materials management.
  • Establish, improve, expand, or optimize end-markets for the use of recycled commodities.
  • Demonstrate a significant and measurable increase in the diversion, recycling rate, and quality of materials collected for municipal solid waste.

Eligible activities include (but are not limited to):

  • Innovative solutions and/or programs that provide or increase access to prevention, reuse, and recycling in areas that currently do not have access; including development of and/or upgrades to drop-off and transfer stations (including but not limited to a hub-and-spoke model in rural communities), etc.
  • The purchase of recycling equipment, including but not limited to sorting equipment, waste metering, trucks, processing facilities, etc.
  • Upgrades to material recovery facilities (MRFs) such as optical sorters, artificial intelligence, etc.
  • Development of and/or upgrades to composting facilities or anaerobic digesters to increase capacity for organics recycling.
  • Development of and/or upgrades to curbside collection programs or drop-off stations for organics.
  • Development of and/or upgrades to reuse infrastructure such as online reuse platforms, community repair spaces, technology and equipment to improve materials management reuse options, food donation, and upcycling, staging areas for material reuse/donation, reuse warehouses, and reuse centers, and electronic waste and computer recycling and refurbishing.

Recycling Education and Outreach (REO) Grant Program

The REO Grant Program includes $30 million in funding for projects to improve consumer education and outreach on waste prevention, reuse, recycling, and composting. The grants aim to reduce waste generation, decrease contamination in the recycling stream, and increase recycling rates across the country in a manner that is equitable for all.

Eligible applicants include:

  • U.S. States, including Washington, D.C.
  • Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.
  • Local governments.
  • Federally recognized tribal governments.
  • Native Hawaiian organizations, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
  • Nonprofit organizations.
  • Public-private partnerships.

Applications Due: January 16, 2023
Notice of Intent to Apply Deadline: December 15, 2022
Funding Available: The minimum individual award floor is $250,000, and the maximum individual award ceiling is $2,000,000 for the grant period.
Grant Period: Up to 3 years

Materials within the scope of this grant program include commonly recycled materials, such as aluminum and steel containers, glass, cardboard paper, and plastics, as well as food, organics (yard and tree trimmings, wood, etc.), textiles, batteries, and electronics. Also within the scope of this grant program are education and outreach activities that prevent or reduce waste by reducing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, recycling, composting, or using anaerobic digestor systems to treat these types of materials or to reduce related contamination.

All projects must encourage the collection of recyclable materials and must achieve one or more of the following objectives:

  • Inform the public about residential or community recycling programs.
  • Provide information about the recycled materials that are accepted as part of a residential or community recycling program that provides for the separate collection of residential solid waste from recycled material.
  • Increase collection rates and decrease contamination in residential and community recycling programs.

Eligible activities include (but are not limited to):

  • Public service announcements.
  • Door-to-door education and outreach campaigns.
  • Social media and digital outreach.
  • An advertising campaign on recycling awareness.
  • The development and dissemination of:
    • a toolkit for a municipal and commercial recycling program.
    • information on the importance of quality in the recycling stream.
    • information on the benefits of recycling.
    • information on what happens to materials after the materials are placed in the bin.
  • Businesses recycling outreach.
  • Bin, cart, and other receptacle labeling and signs.
  • Community ambassador education programs or training the trainer programs.
  • Other education and outreach activities to improve waste prevention, reuse, and recycling, and reduce contamination, such as evaluations and evidence-based messaging and strategies associated with preventing or reducing waste and improving reuse, repair, refurbish, and remanufacture of materials.

Learn more