Gaudreau Environnement has received a $49,250 grant from the Foam Recycling Coalition to fund a foam densifier to add to its current materials recovery processing system.  Gaudreau, a 60-year-old integrated waste management service provider in Victoriaville, Quebec, is the operator of the region’s materials recovery facility. Over the past 22 years, Gaudreau has successfully increased the region’s waste diversion rate to 65 percent. “We are focused on processing additional materials, including foam polystyrene packaging. With a new densifier, it will assist with the viability of processing these new materials and efficiently shipping them to end markets in our region,” said Nicholas Gaudreau, director of Gaudreau Environnement.
 
When the project starts in April 2018, Gaudreau estimates its new waste diversion strategy will increase curbside collection and processing of post-consumer foam polystyrene packaging material to approximately 25 tons per year, which includes foodservice packaging and bulky packaging. The company has already identified other recyclers in Quebec and Ontario to process this new material.
 
“Waste companies like Gaudreau Environnement provide the processing we need to help increase foam recycling across North America,” said Lynn Dyer, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute, which houses the Foam Recycling Coalition. “This grant money is central to Gaudreau’s strategy to increase its diversion rate, and these efforts mean valuable materials can be recycled in the communities served instead of going to the landfill.”
 
The grant was made possible through contributions to FPI’s Foam Recycling Coalition, which focuses exclusively on increased recycling of post-consumer foam polystyrene. The coalition launched the grant program in 2015 to help fund infrastructure to collect and process these products. Its members include Americas Styrenics; Cascades Canada ULC; CKF Inc.; Chick-fil-A; Commodore; Dart Container Corp.; Dyne-A-Pak; Genpak; Hawaii’s Finest Products; INEOS Styrolution; NOVA Chemicals Corp.; Pactiv Foodservice/Food Packaging; Republic Plastics; and TOTAL Petrochemicals & Refining USA.
 
Gaudreau Environnement is the ninth grant recipient to receive FRC funding since 2015. Nearly 1 million additional residents in the U.S. and Canada can recycle foam as a result of the funding. More grant funding will be available in 2018.

For more information, visit www.recyclefoam.org.

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