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Highperformancehomes User is Offline

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08/26/2009 9:44 AM
Has anyone found a viable company turning used EPS packaging into foam blocks for home construction use? I did quite a bit of research, and found very little.

LarryT

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08/26/2009 11:58 AM
The composite guys e.g. Rastra used recycled foam in their ICF's

ergodesk

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08/26/2009 2:00 PM
Posted By Highperformancehomes on 08/26/2009 9:44 AM Has anyone found a viable company turning used EPS packaging into foam blocks for home construction use? I did quite a bit of research, and found very little. Read all the posts on my Blog, there are many using recycled EPS Foam

Build Smarter with Structural Insulated Air http://StyroHomeNews.blogspot.com

ICFconstruction User is Offline

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08/28/2009 3:50 PM
it is also sold at most home improvement stores for a pourable insulation, i.g. CMUs.

Brad Kvanbek - ICFconstruction.net

Polyman

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09/03/2009 7:33 AM
EPS is recycled in two ways, it can either be ground up and mixed in with virgin EPS bead before forming or it can be densified into polystyrene resin and then remanufactured into hard plastic items. Any molder can recycle the first way, however recycling used packaging into building materials is usually not done. Firstly, the density and source of the used packaging may not be known thus the properties of the finished product may be too variable, Secondly, EPS packaging material is usually not made with the flame retardents required for construction grade EPS so using the packaging recycle is not s good idea. Recycling is all the rage now - green means money and every company will claim to be green to get the sale. Ask your manufacturer (SIP or ICF) what they mean by recycled. Great companies recycle EPS by making sure that no EPS leaves their manufacturing facility to landfill, through a combination of mixed virgin/regrind in the products they mold and with in house collection of non grindable waste for densification to plastic resin that is reprocessed into non EPS items. Really Great companies take the scrap EPS from jobsites and customers they sell to and get it out of the landfill.

pdk

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11/03/2009 6:00 PM
R-control (Team Industries) in Grand Rapids, Mi. recycles all their eps and what ever eps is brought into them. They can not use it in structural sips but what they do is grind it up and mold it into large oval shaped slabs that are inserted into forms. Concrete is then poured around them. When you see large stand up concrete walls on supermarkets,etc. it is likely not solid. Its filled with foam. Dream It. Green It. Build It!

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