The City of Houston used to take styrofoam from residents for recycling at its Westpark drop off facility. But that stopped a while back, reportedly due to equipment failures and lack of a sufficient market for the densified material. Block styrofoam is bulky material and takes up a disproportionate amount of landfill space, and developing new future landfill sites will be an expensive proposition. The market for the densified styrofoam (plastic #6) material has reportedly improved, so there are compelling reasons why the City of Houston should invest in the necessary equipment to offer this recycling service again.
You can help get styrofoam recycling restored at Westpark and possibly additional locations, by contacting your City of Houston council member or other City officials. Please ask that they fund the new equipment necessary to 'densify' styrofoam, so that citizens will be able to resume recycling styrofoam and help conserve future landfill space.
Contact information for City of Houston council members can be found at this webpage:
For questions or comments, contact Frank Blake at frankblake@juno.com
Photo by Carol Woronow.