Introduction
Styrofoam is a very useful material that can be used for many different purposes. The problem is that most people don’t know how to recycle it, which means that billions of pounds of styrofoam waste ends up in landfills every year. If you have some styrofoam leftover from your last project and are unsure what to do with it, here are some ideas:
In the United States, it’s estimated that about half of all styrofoam products are disposed of in dumps after use.
Styrofoam is not biodegradable, and manufacturing it uses a lot of energy. Because of this, recycling styrofoam is important. When you recycle styrofoam, you can help to conserve energy and reduce pollution.
A big problem with recycling styrofoams is that they tend to stick together in big chunks. This makes them difficult to recycle into other products because there needs to be room for them in order for the machines doing the recycling process to work properly. In addition, you may have noticed that some types of food packaging have been replaced by Styrofoam containers over time (such as egg cartons). This means that instead of being able to break down into smaller pieces quickly enough through natural processes like decomposition or digestion by animals like cows or pigs before they reach our landfills/sewage treatment facilities where they’ll never decompose at all!
If you have styrofoam that needs to be recycled, it’s worth doing your research ahead of time to find a recycling company that will take your material.
If you have styrofoam that needs to be recycled, it’s worth doing your research ahead of time to find a recycling company that will take your material. There are many options when it comes to recycling styrofoam, and if you don’t have the time or resources to do so yourself, there are plenty of places where you can pay someone else to do it for you.
Styrofoam is an incredibly versatile substance with many different uses, which means there are plenty of people who would be happy to take yours off your hands!
Use them as seed starters, then plant them directly in the soil when the seeds begin to sprout.
You can also use styrofoam cups as seed starters. Simply fill each cup with soil, drop the seeds in, and water. Cover the cups with plastic wrap to keep them warm and moist until they sprout. When you know that your seeds have germinated, simply remove the plastic wrap, set the cup in a sunny spot (keeping it protected from direct sunlight), and watch as your seedlings grow into full-sized plants!
If you’re growing several different kinds of seeds at once—perhaps a couple different tomato varieties—you may want to label each cup so that you know which is which when they start sprouting. You can use painters’ tape or even permanent markers for this purpose; just make sure whatever material you choose won’t hurt your plant’s leaves when exposed to light for extended periods of time.
Once all these steps are done, all that’s left is waiting for your seedlings…and watching them grow!
Put Styrofoam at the bottom of a planter or pot before putting in soil and plants.
When you’re planting a tree or shrub, it’s important to give it a sturdy foundation for growth. Regular soil can be heavy and hard to work with, but Styrofoam is light and easy to manipulate. It’s also an excellent insulator, which keeps the roots warm in wintertime and cool in summertime. Finally, if you need to cut or drill into the Styrofoam, it’s very easy—the only tool you’ll need is your regular box cutter!
When using this method of planting trees and shrubs, be sure that the root ball fits inside the pot before adding any soil mixture on top of it (in case you haven’t already noticed). This way there won’t be too much weight pushing down on those delicate roots while they’re trying their best just like everyone else around here trying their hardest at work every single day because we all love our jobs so much here at Foamworks Incorporated where we’re proud members ourselves so good luck with everything else going forward too!
You can mash up small pieces into balls and use them as packing material when shipping items.
While it’s not the most glamorous way to recycle styrofoam, this is a great way to use up smaller pieces that may have accumulated over time.
Just crush up your styrofoam into small balls and stuff them into boxes before shipping items. This will give the least amount of bulk possible while still minimizing movement within the box, making sure your fragile items don’t get damaged in transit!
Add small pieces of styrofoam to your terrariums to create a neat effect.
If your terrariums need a little extra insulation, consider adding small pieces of styrofoam to the soil. The styrofoam will help keep humidity in and create an interesting cave-like effect for your plants.
They make great homes for some small animals like guinea pigs or hamsters.
Animal lovers have found that styrofoam is a safe and easy material to work with when it comes to building homes for some small animals, like guinea pigs or hamsters. It’s light, so you can easily put it together on your own. It’s also easy to clean up after the little guy has lived in there for a while, plus it insulates well against drafts.
You’ll need an old coffee cup or two (or one mug), two egg cartons per coffee cup side-by-side (for walls), cut from their bottoms so they’re open on one side; two pieces of cardboard (about as big as an egg crate); and some tape.
Styrofoam can be recycled for a variety of uses
- Recycling styrofoam means you can use it to make a variety of products.
- Styrofoam can be recycled into other products, such as:
- Styrofoam bowls
- Styrofoam plates
- Styrofoam cups
- Styrofoam can also be recycled into other styrofoams, like those used for packaging.
Conclusion
There are many different ways to recycle styrofoam, and hopefully this article has given you a few ideas for how to do so. If you have any other ideas about what can be done with styrofoam, please share them below! We’d love to hear from our readers about their experiences with recycling this material.