The Foodservice Packaging Institute鈥檚 Foam Recycling Coalition announced that its grant program is now open for 2025, offering a major opportunity to expand foam polystyrene recycling across the United States. Since its inception, the grant program has enabled over 13 million additional residents to recycle foam polystyrene like cups, egg cartons, takeout containers and packaging materials. Facility operators, non-profits and solid waste authorities are encouraged to apply for grants of up to $50,000 to help establish or enhance foam polystyrene recycling in their communities.
The 2025 application period is open now through April 15, 2025. Eligible entities must engage in operating a material recovery facility, manage residential curbside recycling programs, or manage a drop-off or convenience site recycling program.
鈥淲ith the right collection system and densifying equipment, recycling foam can be both efficient and cost-effective,” said Natha Dempsey, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute. 鈥淲e are thrilled to provide grants to communities and organizations committed to expanding recycling efforts.鈥�
Previous grant awardees used Foam Recycling Coalition funding to purchase equipment, including collection bins and foam densifiers, that aid in the efficient collection and on-site material preparation before shipping to processors and end markets. No cash match is required. However, additional costs by the grantee may be incurred for related items, such as site preparation, electrical infrastructure, freight, etc.
The Foam Recycling Coalition鈥檚 2024 grant recipient, Conigliaro Industries, operates a large-scale material recovery facility in Framingham, Massachusetts, that already accepts non-food-related polystyrene foam like packing peanuts, foam insulation, foam coolers and other foam packaging. Conigliaro used the Foam Recycling Coalition grant to purchase a thermal densifier, allowing the facility to expand its acceptable foam materials to include used foodservice polystyrene such as cups, plates, clamshells and school lunch trays.
鈥淐onigliaro Industries already recycles 150 other materials including rigid plastics, foam plastics, paper, corrugated cardboard, rubber, metal, glass, and others,鈥� said Gregory Conigliaro, president of Conigliaro. 鈥淲ith the help of the Foam Recycling Coalition, we purchased the first major piece of equipment that will help us add used foodservice polystyrene to our accepted materials list. We will build up this line to include equipment that will wash and dry the polystyrene foam before melting it for recycling, further expanding our recycling capabilities.鈥�
Grants are made possible through contributions to the Foam Recycling Coalition, which focuses exclusively on increased recycling of post-consumer foam polystyrene. Its members include Americas Styrenics; Chick-fil-A; CKF Inc.; Dart Container Corp.; Dyne-A-Pak; Genpak; INEOS Styrolution America LLC; Pactiv Evergreen; and Republic Plastics.