HIGH POINT — The city of High Point is continuing its Styrofoam and cardboard recycling program during the market cycle again this fall as part of its initiative to keep these materials out of landfills.
Starting at the recently concluded premarket through the October High Point Market, the city’s recycling trucks are downtown picking up these materials. Cardboard is picked up seven days a week, and the city is picking up the Styrofoam Monday through Thursday.
To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the recycling effort, officials are asking that cardboard continues to be flattened so trucks can pick it up at the curbside. These flattened boxes can be placed in an unflattened larger box to keep loose items from blowing around. Staples and tape do not have to be removed from the cardboard, but the city asks that plastic and paper packing materials be removed from the boxes.
Styrofoam, also known as Polystyrene, should be either taped together or preferably placed in clear plastic bags so that loose pieces do not blow around. Officials also are asking for the pieces to be put in clear plastic versus black bags to be able to identify and keep it separate from other trash.
These materials are collected and taken to the city’s Materials Recovery Facility just outside High Point at 5875 Riverdale Drive in Jamestown. A machine called a densifier shreds the Styrofoam and grounds it into pellets to be used as insulation in tiny homes.
The city only asks that the material be as clean and dry as possible so it can be processed in the densifier. Smaller items such as Styrofoam cups also can be recycled as long as they are rinsed out and put in plastic bags.
A guiding principal in the recycling program for cardboard, Styrofoam and other materials is to keep these types of materials out of the landfill, said Teresa Baker, city of High Point recycling program coordinator. This past spring, the city collected 1,363 pounds of Styrofoam and just over 520 pounds of cardboard.
“It is becoming premium space because we have become such a disposable society,” she said.