Kent County DPW receives foam recycling grant from FRC

The Kent County Department of Public Works (DPW), which operates out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has received a $50,000 grant from the Foodservice Packaging Institute’s Foam Recycling Coalition (FRC).

The grant will support businesses and more than 250,000 households in Kent County and six neighboring counties, assisting in the recycling of materials such as foam polystyrene cups, plates, bowls, take-out containers, egg cartons and block packaging foam.

The FRC grant has assisted with funding the purchase and installation of a foam densifier, used to compact foam products into foam blocks or ingots. Kent County DPW will sell the foam ingots to Atlas Molded Products, in Byron Center, Michigan, to be manufactured into thermal insulation panels for foundations, walls and roofs, or converted into styrene resins.

Residents and businesses can take their used polystyrene foam to the new North Kent Waste and Recycling Facility located at 2908 Ten Mile Road NE in Rockford, Michigan. The facility accepts single stream recycling, old corrugated cardboard, scrap metal, vinyl siding and household hazardous waste, as well as hard-to-recycle materials.

There is no charge for using the residential recycling drop-off stations, including the polystyrene foam drop-off. However, fees will apply for trash, electronics and other special items.

“As of 2023, Kent County operated four facilities, managed approximately 600,000 tons of municipal and commercial waste annually and coordinated 800 truck deliveries daily, but we lacked the ability to process polystyrene,” says Matt McPherson, communications manager at Kent County DPW. “In 2024, the county completed construction of a new solid waste processing and transfer station in Rockford that enables us to include polystyrene collection. This is a beneficial addition to Kent County’s recycling program.”

Kent County is the 38^th recipient of FRC grant funding since 2015. The grant is made possible through contributions to FRC. Its members include Americas Styrenics; Chick-fil-A; CKF Inc.; Dart Container Corp.; Dyne-A-Pak; Genpak; Ineos Styrolution America LLC; Novolex; and Republic Plastics.

“Kent County is expanding foam polystyrene recycling access to a large population of west Michigan, and we are proud to be a part of that effort,” Foodservice Packaging Institute President Natha Dempsey says. “The county’s facilities and programs exemplify the regional impact one county can make.”