"CARE" program is the only nationwide recycling program for polystyrene.

Despite the boom in recycling during the past six years, Dart Container Corporation's CARE (Cups Are REcyclable) program remains the only portable recycling program for polystyrene foam food service products available nationwide.

The CARE program offers Dart's larger institutional customers a fully-integrated polystyrene recycling system that includes promotional materials, a collection device, densification equipment, transportation and reprocessing. More than 50 active CARE programs exist in North America. CARE participants include schools, corporate cafeterias, hotels and hospitals.

Polystyrene recycling programs work best when a large quantity of polystyrene is collected in one place. The CARE program targets high-volume users of polystyrene, like schools, hospitals and corporate cafeterias. At these locations, customers frequently eat on premises. Because most of the foam food service products stay at the facility, an operator can collect a large percentage of used polystyrene products.

Effective foam recycling requires that customers and food service staff be educated and trained. Recycling requires that people learn new behavior. Customers must learn to separate the recyclable polystyrene foam from paper and food trash. Staff must learn how to densify and store the recycled polystyrene.

One reason the CARE program works is that Dart provides materials to train food service employees how to manage the recycling program. Dart also provides materials that teach consumers to separate and recycle their used polystyrene. A large volume of repeat customers also increases the success rate of recycling programs since recycling messages are reinforced every visit. Once consumers understand the importance of the program and how it works, polystyrene foam can be efficiently and effectively recycled.

CARE provides food service operators a fully integrated recycling program. This turnkey operation makes it easy for them to implement polystyrene recycling. Dart sets up the infrastructure of the recycling program with educational materials, collection devices and a densifier (used to crush 8,000 foam cups into a 40 pound cylinder for efficient transport). By simply calling a toll-free number the foodservice operator can arrange transportation on Dart's fleet of trucks and reprocessing in a Dart facility.

For more information, call Dart Container Corporation at (800) 288-CARE. Dart also maintains a site on the Internet World Wide Web at the address: <http://www.dartcontainer.com>.