FRC Grants — Increasing Foam Polystyrene Recycling Throughout North America

Our members are used to the many acronyms we use here at FPI. But, there’s one in particular that we hope more community members become aware of — FRC. The Foam Recycling Coalition was launched in 2014 under the FPI umbrella to support increased recycling of foodservice packaging made from foam polystyrene. This means ensuring that items like cups, egg cartons, foodservice containers and packaging materials are diverted from landfills and recycled into new products.

Providing education and technical resources on foam recycling was a good start. Yet, we also wanted to offer funding assistance to programs that are ready to start or strengthen their post-consumer foam recycling. We do this by awarding FRC grants throughout the U.S. and Canada with the 2023 program open through April 25, 2023.

Since 2015, the FRC has given over $1.2M in grant funding. More than 30 communities, facility operators, non-profits and solid waste authorities have received grants of up to $50,000 from FRC. This means more than 10 million more residents can recycle foam polystyrene than when we launched our first grant program.

While millions of residents seems like a large number of people who have access to foam polystyrene recycling, how can we tell the impact of our grants? Well, thanks to our previous grant recipients, we can tell exactly how much of an impact we’re having. If we look at the data from 2018 through 2022 it shows:

• Total weight of foam recycled per year increased from 655,180 pounds to 1.4 million pounds.
• Landfill space saved per year increased from 140 trailer loads to 302 trailer loads, assuming one trailer load holds roughly 3,816 cubic feet of foam.
• Total market value of foam recycled per year more than doubled from $78,621 to $169,014.

To be eligible for an FRC grant, entities must engage in operating a material recovery facility, manage residential curbside recycling programs, or manage a drop-off or convenience site recycling program.

Previous awardees have used FRC funding to purchase equipment, including collection bins and foam densifiers, that help in the efficient collection and on-site material preparation prior to shipping. We don’t require a cash match, but additional costs by the grantee may be incurred for related items, such as site preparation, electrical infrastructure, freight, etc.

The grant program is made possible through contributions to FRC. Be sure to visit the FRC website to learn more about foam recycling, read about previous recipients or apply for a grant.