WHAT IS EPS FOAM, ALSO CALLED STYROFOAM?

EPS stands for Expanded Polystyrene. Most people commonly refer to EPS as Styrofoam because Dupont owns the trademark on that brand name.

EPS foam is usually white and made of expanded polystyrene beads. Familiar uses include packing "peanuts" and molded packing material for cushioning fragile items inside boxes.

Packaging and products containing polystyrene can usually be identified by a recycling triangle logo with the number 6 inside it stamped on the item.

EPS foam contains more than 95% "air" and only about 5% plastic. We "densify" the foam, meaning we grind it up and take out all the air and end up with a compressed block of plastic. The illustartion on the right shows just how compressed we can get teh foam before it goes off to recycling.