Montreal begins Styrofoam recycling pilot project

Until this weekend,Montrealers had no option to recycle theStyrofoam trays used forpackagingmany fruits, vegetables and meats sold in grocery stores.

Now, through a one-year pilot project between the City of Montreal and the plastic industry, people who wantto recycle Styrofoam and other polystyrene products canbring it to the cocentre in Lasalle.

Polystyrene is a commonly used packaging material that comes in a soft form asStyrofoam, and in a more rigid form used for single-servingyogurtcups.

Polystyrene isidentified with thetype "6" plasticsymbol.

At thecocentreinLasalle,different kinds of polystyrene are sorted into bins and eventually shipped to a recycling plant in Granby.

This isthe second time Montreal haslauncheda pilot project to recycle polystyrene. After the success of the first three month trial in 2011, the citydecided to start this full year program.

Though polystyrene still wont be picked up by municipal recycling collection, theCanadian Plastics Industry Associationsaid ithopes the city will continue and expand the program withcocentresacross thecity.

We'll have to sit down with the City of Montreal and look at the definite possibility of extending this hopefully to all thecocentres and in the long term see this material in the blue box, saidPaulAucoin, the Quebec &MaritimesDirector for CPIA.

Aucoin said polystyrene iscompletely recyclable, thoughbecause Styrofoam is mostly air, it was too costlyto transport it to recycling plants.

However,a new technologyallows it to be compacted,making recycling more attractive, especially since there is actually a demand for recycled polystyreneasconstruction material.

A lot of companies are looking for itand, unfortunately, are not finding enough of it, said Aucoin.