Spring Cleaning: Styrofoam

As spring approaches, you may be in the mood to freshen up your place with some new purchases. And many items come packed in the infamous mess-maker, Styrofoam. Next to glitter, which clearly tops the chart, Styrofoam must be one of the worst items to clean up around the house. As soon as a block of it gets bumped or dented, those teeny, tiny little particles start breaking loose, getting everywhere and sticking to everything. Thanks, static electricity!

If you think it’s bad around your house, imagine what it would be like to pick those bits off of plastic containers, newspaper, and other materials in a whole community’s worth of recycling bins! Today’s recycling sorting technology is pretty high-tech, but separating out Styrofoam fragments from other materials in your curbside cart is a tall order. That’s why Styrofoam can’t go in your curbside recycling cart and isn’t part of our curbside collection program.

Most types CAN be recycled, though, with a little help from you! Your #OneChangePerWeek challenge this week: if you bought something that came in a box with some kind of plastic or foam protection inside, take a minute to sort it to see what goes where!

Do Your Part Recycling Depot:

• Styrofoam blocks or containers
• Bubble wrap
• Stretchy soft plastic overwrap

Black cart or Thornhill Transfer Station:

• Packing peanuts
• Flexible foam packing material

For more information about foam, please check https://www.doyourpart.ca/ or contact Do Your Part directly as they are not operated by the City of Terrace

#OneChangePerWeek #CurbsideCollectionTip