One of the biggest mantras of the Surfrider Foundation is reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Today it is very easy to send most recyclable products on their way to a collection depot (after which it is generally out of the average consumers hands); it is a bit more difficult and usually requires a fairly creative mind to find a reuse of a typical everyday single use consumer product.  And, although many would like to simply reduce, in some case this choice if virtually impossible, especially when buying most packaged products.  For instance, your average consumer electronic product is packed in layer(s) of plastic wrap, reinforced with an expanded foam (generally polystyrene or polyethylene) and boxed into one or two cardboard shells  The plastic wrap is for most a throw away item, the cardboard box is easily recycled or reused, but the expanded foam has largely been forgotten.  Over the past few years, Marko Foam in California has made great strides to collect and recycle not only the expanded polystyrene (aka Styrofoam; Styrofoam is a trade name for a specific extruded polystyrene product developed by Dow Chemical) from their production line but also collecting from post consumer sources.  This foam is ground and re-blown into products like recycled surfboard blanks and sheet foam insulation.  Styrofoam recycling drops are fairly common in some west coast cities.  However, if you have ever tried to find a styrofoam recycler in Austin, or Texas as a whole, good luck.   We do have an option;  HDi Plastics, Inc. in Southeast Austin is the only place in Austin that recycles all forms of polystyrene foam (not packing peanuts).  Different forms of foam, plastics bags and flower pots can be dropped off at the company’s headquarters at 5330 Fleming Court #100, near Texas 71 and Burleson Road.   Clean expanded polystyrene packing peanuts can be dropped off at most any packing and mailing retail store, where they will be reused, thus reducing the demand for new or virgin polystyrene products.

Great video covering one of the recycling programs out in California.

Check out Waste to Waves programs and ReRip.