The Rotary Club of Austin-Southwest has operated a booth the first Saturday of the month at SFC Farmers Market in S.W. Austin since October 2023. The goal has been to provide a handy collection spot for the community to drop off clean Styrofoam for our Club to take to Austin Reuse-Recycle.
Styrofoam takes 500 years to decompose into its harmful component chemicals. Austin Reuse & Recycle re-processes the Styrofoam so it can be re-purposed into picture frames, park benches, insulation and other products.
To date, almost 2000 pounds of Styrofoam has been collected at our booth (almost 2-18 wheeler loads!).This consists of ice chests, clean food containers & cups, egg cartons, packing materials and more.
Perks of this environmental program have been exposure of Rotary to our larger community, volunteer recruitment, camaraderie of Club members and new members for the Club.