any use for a bunch of styrofoam?

Hello John,

I haven't read the whole thread, so sorry if this has already been mentioned:  I just read a man's account of how he built a trapper's tilt, and he said he used 1.5" of styrofoam as the base layer for his floor.  So, maybe someone can use it in their tiny home.

Cheers,

- Jojo

This isn't terribly eco friendly, but, it uses lots of styrofoam and keeps it out of the landfill.
I dissolve styrofoam or packing peanuts in acetone or alcohol free gasoline.  Then stuff it into a nitrile rubber glove and let it sit for about a month to dry.  When I peel the glove off, I have a hard plastic hand.
The one I'm working on right now will be wrapped around a small flower pot while it dries.  So it'll be a hand holding a flower pot.
I'm using plain white styrofoam for the fingers and palm.  I'm using green packing peanuts for the thumb.
So if the hand holding the flower pot has a green thumb, will the plants grow better?

In the video below, this guy uses dissolved styrofom in xylene (I've used regular acetone before, and that works too) but then he uses it as a varnish.  Great idea!
To make a wood stain he then mixes it with "cholera", which, I'm guessing is not the word he meant. :)  Looks like shoe polish, I'm guessing.

Still, varnish and stain have gotten outrageously expensive of late, so a real "trash-to-treasure" idea, there!

K Eilander wrote:In the video below, this guy uses dissolved styrofom in xylene (I've used regular acetone before, and that works too) but then he uses it as a varnish.  Great idea!
To make a wood stain he then mixes it with "cholera", which, I'm guessing is not the word he meant. :)  Looks like shoe polish, I'm guessing.

I think he said colorant.

I’d definitely reuse it before trying to recycle it. Clean EPS foam can work surprisingly well as insulation, especially around sheds, workshops, cold frames, or other places where you’re not worried about appearances.

For larger pieces, you can cut them to fit between framing or use them as a lightweight filler in projects where the foam won’t be exposed to heat, sunlight, or chewing animals. Smaller pieces can also be useful for packing fragile items you’re storing or transporting.

One thing I’d avoid is burning it or putting it somewhere it can break down into little foam beads and spread everywhere. If you have a lot of it, I’d probably set aside the clean, usable sheets and treat the odd-shaped scraps as a separate problem.