Agilyx, Oregon Metro launch recycling pilot program

Agilyx Corp., a firm specialized in the chemical recycling of postuse plastics based in Portland, Oregon, has announced plans to collaborate with Oregon Metro, a regional government group based in Portland, Oregon, to pilot a polystyrene (PS) foam collection program. The PS foam will be aggregated at the Metro South Transfer Station in Oregon City, Oregon, and recycled to new material using Agilyx’s technology.

According to a news release from Agilyx, Metro South Transfer Station began accepting clean expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) packaging at its recycling area May 22. Agilyx will then preprocess the collected EPS and ship it to Regenyx, a joint venture between Agilyx and Americas Styrenics that operates an advanced recycling facility in Tigard, Oregon.

Agilyx states that new PS items produced using the advance recycled EPS at Regenyx have up to 70 percent lower carbon footprint when compared with virgin plastics. The overarching goal of this pilot is to act as a model to develop additional collection programs throughout Portland and further increase plastic recovery by expanding access to drop-off facilities.

“We are very excited to help develop new programs to increase residential postconsumer plastic recovery through a Circular pathway,” says Joe Vaillancourt, CEO of Agilyx. “It is our mission to increase plastic recovery globally and we see this pilot program as a model to help other communities develop similar programs. We are proud to be working with Metro, a governmental group that is focused on providing their constituents environmentally focused programs to rethink end-of-life plastics.”

“We serve over 250,000 self-haul customers in the greater Portland region every year. And every year, we have been asked to recycle Styrofoam,” says Penny Erickson, superintendent at Metro South. “We are thrilled to be able to now offer that service.”