Written CommunicationsFrom:Dino Sakkas
To:City of Cupertino Sustainability Commission
Subject:Diversion of EPS from Landfill
Date:Wednesday, January 19, 2022 12:18:05 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless
you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
The packaging of large items like televisions, grills and other appliances often include large amounts of styrofoam.
This material cannot be recycled and is not banned even in the upcoming single use plastics ordinance since most
items are not packaged in Cupertino. When properly handled it ends up in our landfill.
To make matters worse I often see the foam in the recycleable materials bin even though it is not supposed to be
there.
When I receive an item with large amounts of material I take it to an organization called Foam Recycle in Sunnyvale
they can be found at foamrecycle.org, they compress it and sell it to companies that recycle it.
I was wondering if this committee would consider requesting that city council update the city regulations as
appropriate to adding eps foam as an item to be dropped off on the shred / waste days. There would be a cost to
handle it just like there is for shredding paper or handling batteries etc. The cost / process could even be added to
recology`s contract for material handling on that day provided they route it to a recycler.
Ideally, we could consider updating Recology`s contract to pick it up curbside.
Please advise
Dino Sakkas
30+ year Cupertino Resident