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New styrofoam recycling plant opens in Tigard

For all you devout recyclers out there, there is now a place for you to recycle all that styrofoam you've been storing up.

For all you devout recyclers out there, there is now a place for you to recycle all that styrofoam you've been storing up, along with some other plastic you're not allowed to put in your blue recycling bin.

The company is called Agilyx and they're located in Tigard. If the company sounds familiar, it's because it's actually been around for more than a decade.

We did a story back in 2011 on how the company was turning mixed plastics into crude oil. Now, it's found a way to melt down polystyrene, commonly known as styrofoam, into an oil as well. That oil is then sent to refineries where it’s made into new styrofoam.

And this is no small endeavor. The plant is designed to process 10 tons of the stuff every day. And it processes the white expanded foam stuff and any plastic with the recycle number 6 on it.

"We're able to take all these different types of material from rigid to foam, it doesn't even matter if there's a bit of food waste on it. It doesn't matter if there's dirt. We're still able to take that material in and turn that into a new product," said John Desmarteau, project engineer with Agilyx.

The plant is currently working local nurseries, food companies and retailers to collect all of their plastic styrofoam waste.

But the plant wants all your styrofoam as well.

The company has a drop box at its Tigard location, 7904 SW Hunziker St., that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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