Dart Brings Foam Cups Across Finish Line

Dart Container Corp. (www.dart.biz), Mason, Mich., provided donated drinking cups to the 2010 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympic Games in Virginia and also established a collection system to recycle used cups.

Dart Container worked with event host the Hampton Roads Sports Commission to collect polystyrene cups at the event. Plastic bottles were collected for recycling at the 10-day event by regional recycler TFC Recycling, Chesapeake, Va.

Captured foam cups were taken to Dart’s facility in Leola, Pa., where cups can be recycled by grinding them up, converting them to plastic resin pellets, and selling them for reuse as an ingredient in non-food service products such as picture frames and decorative molding, according to the company. TFC Recycling handled the PET plastic bottles collected at the event.

“Dart is proud to introduce foam cup recycling to these young athletes from all around the country,” says Ray Ehrlich, regional manager of government affairs and the environment at Dart Container. “We hope this raises awareness and increases the likeliness that they will look for more recycling opportunities when they return home.”

According to Ehrlich, “Dart has been recycling polystyrene foam for almost 20 years. It started at select plants, but today we accept it for recycling at all 13 of our plants in the United States and at our plant in Ontario and one of our two plants in Mexico.”

“We are very interested in growing the recycling of polystyrene foam,” adds Ehrlich. He notes that the material’s light weight can make it challenging to transport it long distances and that in some food service applications the amount of contamination can also present a challenge or barrier to recycling.

The Hampton Roads Sports Commission, an affiliate of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, produces the AAU Junior Olympic Games. The commission partnered with Dart Container Corp. to provide 100,000 donated foam cups and 4,000 plastic cups to be used at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

According to Dart’s news release, the 10-day, 20-sport event AAU Junior Olympic Games event “is one of the country’s largest amateur multi-sport events for youth.” In partnership with the Hampton Roads Sports Commission, five regional cities combined to host the AAU Junior Olympic Games and its more than 45,000 participants (some 15,000 athletes and their families and coaches) from July 29 to August 7.

More information on Dart Container Corp.can be found at www.dart.biz.