The first Earth Day was organized by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson back on April 22, 1970. Nelson raised awareness on environmental issues through a national demonstration. Today, Earth Day is an event celebrated by hundreds of different countries across the world.
Here at Plymouth Furniture, we do not take the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” lightly. We make it a priority to create as little garbage as possible while recycling as much as we can.
Why Recycle Foam?
With the amount of packages we receive on a daily basis, you can only imagine the surplus of foam we compile in a short span of time. Unlike most stores, Plymouth Furniture chooses to recycle the foam through Plymouth Foam Waste Management. Quite often, we are able to fill up a 16 foot box truck full of foam.
EPS, expanded Polystyrene, otherwise known as Styrofoam, can be extremely
harmful to the environment. While foam does not weight much, it takes up a lot of volume in landfills. Unlike other waste, EPS is non- biodegradable, meaning it cannot decompose into an environmentally safe material. Since foam is so light weight, it is easily carried into waterways and oceans by the wind. This can become costly as raking up the foam is an expensive service. In addition, EPS is hazardous to shorelines, landscapes, and wildlife.
Despite what many people think, there are many different uses for recycled EPS. Some of these include: outdoor furniture, roofing tiles, coat hangers, seedling containers, door and window frames, packaging peanuts and more.
The Three R’s In Action
Plymouth Furniture takes other steps to make our business as environmental friendly as possible. Not only do we recycle foam, but other materials such as baled cardboard. We have one dumpster for garbage and one for recycling that are emptied weekly. The majority of waste baskets found here are located in office spaces only. All in all, we typically have only fifteen bags of garbage a week. Plymouth Furniture also takes customers’ old furniture that is in good condition and donates it to our neighbors at St. Vincent DePaul. Unlike many other large corporations, we are able to set ourselves apart by reducing, reusing, and recycling.