In the United States, over 80 thousand tons of Expanded polystyrene (EPS), or Styrofoam™, are consumed on an annual basis, of which less than 5,000 tons are recycled. Some suppliers have programs to take back or reduce EPS/Styrofoam™ from their supply chain, but the EPS/Styrofoam™ that remains in our supply chain cannot be recycled in standard single-stream recycling.
However, specialty recycling of EPS/Styrofoam™ is available locally through Appliance Warehouse, an appliance vendor in Pittsburgh’s Southside neighborhood. Appliance Warehouse operates a public EPS/Styrofoam™ drop off and use an onsite densifier to process these materials into ingots for sale on the recycling market.
To meet our Pitt Sustainability goal to reduce landfill waste 25% by 2030 (from 2017 levels), Pitt is excited to announce the launch of a recycling pilot for on-campus EPS/Styrofoam™ in partnership with Pitt Logistics and Appliance Warehouse.
The Styrofoam Recycling Pilot launched in February 2025, focused on collecting and diverting EPS/Styrofoam™ from the labs on campus who receive cold chain shipments in EPS/Styrofoam™ coolers. It’s estimated that Pitt labs receive 6,500 pieces of EPS/Styrofoam™ cold packaging annually.
To participate in the Styrofoam Recycling Pilot, drop off your clean, dry EPS/Styrofoam™ from Pitt purchases at one of the three collection bins located in Salk Hall, Clapp/Langley/Crawford, and the School of Public Health. All stickers and tape must be removed, and coolers must be taken out of their cardboard shipping boxes. Smaller EPS/Styrofoam™ should be placed in a bag or cooler for drop off.
This pilot is only for EPS/Styrofoam™ from on-campus operations and is not open to the public. If you have EPS/Styrofoam™ at home you want to recycle please take it to Appliance Warehouse. For complete instructions and precise collection bin locations, head to the following page: