The holidays bring gifts, many of which are padded with Styrofoam.
Many of us simply throw away that Styrofoam (also called expanded polystyrene), which isn’t good for the environment.
Meanwhile at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine, Ana Luisa Kadekaro, associate professor of dermatology, wanted to do something about the massive volume of Styrofoam the medical school received with their supplies.
She spoke with WYSO's Mike Frazier.
This transcript has been lighted edited for clarity.
Ana Luisa Kadekaro: We have more than 250 labs here in the College of Medicine. We think that the average of all labs combined would generate about 900 pounds of Styrofoam per month. And if you then calculate this amount per year, it would be over five tons of Styrofoam per year that is going to the city landfills. So this is really something incredible. You know, it's too much. And you have to see because this Styrofoam is very, very light. So you can have a box that is very big. And that occupies lots of space in the landfills. But in terms of how light it is, the volume for a pound can be really overwhelming.
Mike Frazier: Five tons of a very light material every year. That is a lot of Styrofoam.
Luisa: It is a lot of Styrofoam. Yeah.
And then I started researching and then I found out that very few locations or companies do the recycling of Styrofoam. One happened to be close to my house, that’s called Eco Development. So I went there to check what they do with this Styrofoam and I got so excited and interested in that. I talked to the manager and they explained that they can recycle this material,
They compact all this Styrofoam in huge blocks and then they sell these blocks of Styrofoam to different companies. And most of the Styrofoam that is being sold to other companies are going to be used to make insulation material for buildings.
Hamilton County - they have grants that can support recycling projects. So I went to their website, started digging for the information, and I found out that there was one particular grant that would fit this very, very nicely. So this is a grant that's called Resource Impact Grant. And they are interested in proposals that would divert waste from their landfills. And then I saw this is just perfect for us.
Frazier: Now, what exactly does the grant pay for?
Luisa: So basically, the grant money is being used for education. I'm going to have the first part of this project to generate lots of information material and start educating people. What is Styrofoam, what is EPS? How can we properly recycle this material? And this is one part of a big plan that we are starting here at the College of Medicine. Thanks to Hamilton County, because those grants really can support this kind of initiative.
Frazier: Does Eco Development charge you for dropping off recycling at their facility?
Luisa: Well, they charge us for them to come and take this to their facility because they are hauling from different locations. Yeah, they will charge us for this.
Frazier: How does that make you feel knowing that this program is going on down there and that you're the one that started it and you're hopefully making results? How do you feel about that?
Luisa: Well, I feel good. You know, I feel good, but I'm also not naïve. That's why I'm saying education — spreading the word. The more we talk, more people will be engaged.
So, yeah. I feel good. I feel good.
Montgomery County residents can recycle their Styrofoam during the County's quarterly recycling events. Dates and locations are posted on their website.
