Expanded Polystyrene

[Mick F]

Another idea.......
store your leftover poppies in them.

Cardboard boxes. Specially provided by the appeal.
We have an empty one that one of our cats seems to like.

You could paint one hi-viz orange and wear it on your head when cycling. Sure to save your life sooner or later.

Love it!

[francovendee]

We always have a problem disposing of expanded polystyrene packaging. There's lots of it inside cardboard packing. We recently bought a new fridge and it sat inside a shell of the stuff. We take it to our local dump and have in the past put it in the general skip. The dump now has a special section just for expanded polystyrene. I thought they would be recycling it but a friend tells us it gets burnt in a refuse incinerator 20 Km away
I guess there isn't a way to recycle it, either burn it or bury it.

[Mick F]

Yes, they built a modern incinerator in Devonport a couple of years ago, and much of Devon's non-reycleables go there.

One issue we have down here ................. and we're not that unusual in this regard ............ it's too far to the recycling place for certain stuff so it's not economic to take it. Also, if you take stuff by lorry for 300miles, you're doing as much damage as burning it locally.

Next time we go to the local dump, we'll ask about polystyrene.

[thirdcrank]

Our younger son bought a new flat recently and having moved around a lot, he decided to shell out on a nice new dining suite. It arrived beautifully packed in heavy cardboard boxes all full of pre-shaped expanded polystyrene packing, with some of the loose stuff as well which looks a bit like some sort of snack. No room in the communal bins, recyclable or otherwise and since he has no car, it was another job for Dad's Taxi.

In spite of the amount, the cardboard was no problem. It packs flat, our grandchildren get loads of fun playing with the stuff and in due course it goes in the green (recycling) bin. There were half a dozen big black bags of the polystyrene but I wasn't going to make a special trip to the Civic Amenities place so they went in the garage and from there into the black (non-recycling) bin over a period of several fortnightly collections, helped by a neighbour with loads of room in their black bin, whose house I keep an eye on when they are away at their caravan. There might be some fun for children with the stuff but it's so messy. Even if you do nothing to break it, there are plenty of loose fragments which stick tenaciously to everything (static electricity.)

[al_yrpal]

Local butchers may be interested in polystyrene boxes if they are like Liddicoats in Lostwithiel sending frozen and chilled Cornish meat to people livjng in other parts of the UK.

Al

[Mick F]

Just had one of my fortnightly injections.
The pens arrive by courier every three months in a polystyrene box with ice blocks.
The ice blocks are cheap plastic bottles of frozen water and can be recycled easily with other plastic bottles.

We put the freezer blocks into the freezer, but just having a clear-out and assessment of what's in there, we decided we didn't need the blocks, so put them in a bowl of water to defrost them.

They don't have a screw top, so I drilled a hole in one of them at both ends to drain out the water ........................ except it's not water.
It seems to be a glycerine substance, so we can't even recycle these blocks!
There are another three.

I'll be getting in touch with these people - Fresenius Medical Care - and tearing them off a strip and saying that I don't want them to supply me any more unless they can take back the JUNK. No doubt the NHS pay these people to deliver my medication, so if I don't want them to supply me, they're going to be out of pocket.

I have no objection to my collecting the medication from the hospital personally. The pens can be out of the fridge for hours with no damage, so it's only a matter of me collecting them ........... I could even do it by bike.

https://www.freseniusmedicalcare.com/en ... nsibility/

Environmental management enables us to implement environmental requirements and design our processes to use resources as efficiently as possible, thus saving on costs. It also increasingly supports us in creating added value for our customers with eco-friendly products and services. Last but not least, it ensures that we take our responsibility to the environment seriously.

[Norman H]

I would ask the company what the freezer blocks contain. It will most likely be non toxic and biodegradable, and will almost certainly be water soluble. You could probably flush it down the sink if you're on mains drainage. Typically they use cellulose based polymers. I once made my own using Polycell wallpaper paste.

[Mick F]

I would ask the company what the freezer blocks contain. It will most likely be non toxic and biodegradable, and will almost certainly be water soluble. You could probably flush it down the sink if you're on mains drainage. Typically they use cellulose based polymers. I once made my own using Polycell wallpaper paste.

Maybe .............
The blocks say on them:

dgpgroup.com
Pharmachill 1515
Non-toxic, use only as instructed.


http://intelsius.com
http://intelsius.com/news/12-green-bottles
I can't see that if we took these blocks and put them in the plastic bottle bank, that they would (or could) recycle them. They would have to go to a specialist place. No doubt - from what I've read - that they are indeed recyclable, but who and where? Do I care? I don't think so. All I want is for them to take them back and not send me any more of their junk.

[mjr]

Relatedly, our local plastic recycling collection doesn't take hard non-food plastics at the moment (and I'm not sure whether they ever did or whether it's a recent thing to call it "contamination"). Trying to interrogate the councils about what to do with them is a very frustrating experience. Has anyone here found a way to recycle them sustainably?

[colin54]

This any use to you Mick ?


http://www.eps.co.uk/sustainability/recycling.html

Click on find an EPS recycling point,there's one at Torpoint.

[thirdcrank]

This any use to you Mick ?


http://www.eps.co.uk/sustainability/recycling.html

Click on find an EPS recycling point,there's one at Torpoint.

My heart briefly rose there, but it was a false hope for me. Nearest consumer recycling point is in Scunthorpe, just short of 110miles round trip by shortest route.

Otherwise, I could clear all my junk out of the garage and store the EPS until I had enough for somebody to collect it

If you have clean, un-compacted EPS, there are recyclers who will collect this material, free-of-charge and recycle it into insulation board for construction. You will need to store up enough boxes to fill a truck and they should be palleted and wrapped in plastic film. If you contact one of the recyclers listed as taking un-compacted EPS they will be able to advise you on the minimum amount required for collection.

Little-known fact:

"Airpop" The new name for EPS

I think the underlying message is not really worth anybody's time and effort to bother.

[NUKe]

Seed trays for the greenhouse ?

[Mick F]

This any use to you Mick ?
http://www.eps.co.uk/sustainability/recycling.html
Click on find an EPS recycling point,there's one at Torpoint.

Thanks.

Torpoint isn't a place we go to very often. I've cycled through there once or twice recently and come home via the ferry.
The recycling place is near Milbrook, not Torpoint, so it's even more difficult to get to.
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.352467, ... 6?hl=en-GB

[Mick F]

PS:
Just chatting to Mrs Mick F.

Millbrook.
She says it sounds like a nice trip out. I said we could go to Plymouth by train, walk down to Stonehouse and cross the Cremyl Passenger Ferry and walk up the hill from Mount Edgecombe to Millbrook and all we'd need to carry is two(?) polystyrene boxes to take to them. Easy peazy only a 4mile walk each way.

Maybe she meant we could drive?
25miles to cross over the Torpoint Ferry and pay the toll on the way back at £1.50
Or 32miles by land.

Perhaps do the 25 miles there over the ferry for free, then back home the 32miles toll free.
57miles round trip.

[Abradable Chin]

If you want to reduce the volume, drop it in acetone. You'll find that a cubic metre of polystyrene turns into 1 litre of liquid. If you want, you can cast new polystyrene plastic parts from the solution by just evaporating the solvent.

You could also burn it, since you have a woodburner, and it is just a hydrocarbon.