Recycling Roadmap

Polystyrene plastic recycling is real and expanding. Today, 105 million Americans – or roughly one third of the US population – have access to recycle at least one type of polystyrene according to Resource Recycling Systems (RRS). Furthermore, RRS estimates that future growth in recycling capacity will result in one half to two thirds of Americans having access to recycle at least one type of polystyrene by the end of this decade.  

This is where the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance (PSRA) will focus its efforts and resources – collaborating with other stakeholders to improve collection infrastructure, drop-off programs, and the development of robust end markets to improve recycling access and rates for all polystyrene formats.  The Roadmap data provided by RRS is granular to the county level across the US and will allow PSRA to identify high priority areas where infrastructure grants and other solutions can help improve circularity for all types of polystyrene.

In addition, PSRA will utilize the Roadmap data to identify best practices across the US that support high recycling access. For example, there are more than 300 counties in the US where everyone in the county has access to recycle one or more polystyrene items. What is working well in those areas to enable high recycling access? What is needed to replicate and accelerate that success elsewhere? Funding, education, information, technology, and policy levers will be key tools for PSRA to help drive improvements.

Our goal is to improve recycling access for all polystyrene formats to a level considered “Widely Recyclable” and eventually enable access for all in North America.  A key part of the journey starts with making current access known to consumers so that they can recycle polystyrene today. In addition to your local recycling program, we will provide links here to other locations that accept polystyrene from the public for recycling. We’ll work to expand this list as we become aware of more locations.