When Life Gives You Styrofoam™... Recycle with Edgewater Surf

ECO SPEAKS CLE

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Jeff McNaught owns Edgewater Surf, a surf shop in Rocky River, where he sells a variety of new and used paddleboards, surfboards, and windsurfing gear. The shop also serves as an informal community hub for styrofoam™ recycling. Jeff started this program to provide a local recycling option for the bulky EPS (expanded polystyrene) found inside paddleboards and encasing appliances, TVs, computers, and other large items for customer shipment. This bulky, lightweight, and rigid foam plastic is not accepted in community recycling programs, and the closest recycler is in Dayton, Ohio.
Working to fill a community need, Jeff established an EPS drop-off location at his shop and installed a "densifier" with a Food Service Packaging Association grant. This equipment compacts the foam so it can be cost-effectively transported. With both collection and processing up and running, Jeff is now the only processor of post-consumer foam in the Cleveland area while he is still running his shop and getting out on the lake to windsurf.
Join us to hear Jeff speak about his vision for scaling this program and what he needs to make it sustainable. Jeff also speaks about what surfing is like in Cleveland and the surfing community and his partnerships with organizations like the Surfrider Foundation working to address problems of plastic pollution. Jeff has turned his passions into his business and is all in. We hope our community will support him.
Resources
Recycling at Edgewater Surf
Shop Edgewater Surf
About Edgewater Surf

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Chapters

1. When Life Gives You Styrofoam™... Recycle with Edgewater Surf (00:00:00)

2. Episode Intro (00:00:43)

3. About Edgewater Surf and Guest Jeff McNaught (00:01:51)

4. EPS Recycling at Edgewater Surf (00:05:00)

5. How the Densifier Works (00:13:00)

6. Surfing in Cleveland (00:20:00)

7. Community Partnerships (00:25:30)

8. Recycling Guidelines (00:30:55)