Residents of Tacoma, Washington, can once again recycle clean EPS protective packaging at the city’s recycling centre after a new densifier restored a service that had been unavailable for several years.
Tacoma announced the replacement equipment in May 2026. The previous densifier had been out of service since 2022, and the city decided that replacement would provide a more reliable long-term solution than repeated repairs.
Turning bulky packaging into dense blocks
The Tacoma Recycle Center accepts clean rigid protective packaging blocks, foam coolers and packaging sheets. Foodservice containers, packing peanuts and dirty or contaminated foam are excluded.
At the centre, the EPS is compressed into dense blocks before being transported to a recycling facility in Kent, Washington. The city says the material is then prepared for manufacturing into new products.
The restart illustrates a practical feature of EPS recycling that is easy to overlook. Collection can depend on relatively simple pieces of infrastructure. When the densifier stopped working, the recycling route stopped with it. Replacing the equipment allowed the city to reopen the service and again connect household packaging with downstream recycling.
Tacoma’s system is deliberately focused on clean protective packaging, demonstrating how municipalities can design collection rules around the material streams their processing and recycling partners are equipped to handle.
Sources used in this article
City of Tacoma: Styrofoam recycling returns to Tacoma Recycle Center
Tacoma Council Member John Hines: Follow-up communication on restored service
Minuteman Press Tacoma: Local report on new densifier
