Pacific Seafood’s Recycling Program Collects 150 Tons of Polystyrene

Pacific Seafood, a seafood company based in Portland, Ore., has invested in a polystyrene recycling program at its distribution facilities that has resulted in the collection and recycling of 300,000 pounds of the plastic each year.

Through its recycling process, the company condenses one pallet of polystyrene, typically four feet by six feet, into a much smaller two-foot block. The material is then converted into beads, which are used for a host of other consumer goods.

"There is no need for this type of packing material to go to waste," said Kurt Mitchell, operations manager for Pacific Seafood’s Northwest operations. "We are thinking outside the box and have come up with innovative ways to put packaging waste to good use."

In addition to recycling Styrofoam, Pacific Seafood composts its used wax cardboard for potting soil and sends plastic pallet wrap to a recycler. As for pallets, if they are broken and cannot be repaired they are converted to mulch.

In 2008, Pacific Seafood’s waste reduction efforts, at the company’s Clackamas, Wash., facility alone, reduced the amount waste being sent to local landfills by more than 600,000 pounds.