Maroondah City Council in Victoria provides residents with dedicated routes for recycling clean EPS packaging that is not accepted in ordinary household recycling bins.
The council includes polystyrene packaging in its periodic “E-waste + more” collection events. Accepted material includes clean protective foam from products such as televisions, dishwashers and ovens, with residents asked to remove tape, labels, cardboard and other contamination before delivery.
Connecting council collection with specialist recycling
Maroondah identifies Foamex as the downstream recycler for EPS collected through the programme. The council’s disposal guidance also directs residents to specialist drop-off options outside the scheduled collection events.
Foamex describes recycling clean EPS packaging and using the recovered polystyrene as feedstock for new products, including building applications such as under-slab insulation and void formers.
The Maroondah programme is one of a growing number of Australian examples where councils provide a route for EPS outside normal kerbside collection. The system depends on source separation: clean packaging is collected separately and connected with a processor that can recycle the material into new products.
For residents, the result is straightforward: EPS packaging that would otherwise go into residual waste has an identified route from local collection to specialist recycling.
Sources used in this article
Maroondah City Council: E-waste + more collection day
Maroondah City Council: Polystyrene disposal guide
Foamex: EPS recycling services
