Plastic Recycling Inc. — already one of the country's largest polystyrene recyclers — expects to have a new PS recycling facility focused on post-consumer materials up and running by early next year in Indianapolis.
The new project, which will initially employ 25, is targeting both expanded PS foam — think cups and containers — as well as rigid PS.
Focusing on post-consumer materials, the new site will rely on materials from material recovery facilities that process residential recycling, the company said.
PRI is teaming with Dart Container Corp. — the well-known maker of foam cups and containers — on the collection program.
The partnership will couple PRI's experience in recycling facility management with Dart's washing technology, PRI said.
“We currently recycle about 60 million pounds of foam and rigid polystyrene materials annually but we have the capacity to do so much more,” said PRI owner Alan Shaw in a statement. “The residential recycling stream has been largely untapped by our competitors and we view it as a tremendous source for more of this valuable material.”