Polystyrene Foam Product Manufacturing (U.S.) — NAICS 32614

An investor's primer (rollup level). Figures marked as federal statistics come from the U.S. Census Bureau and Small Business Administration; other figures are attributed to private market-research firms and are less authoritative. This page summarizes; the full detail lives in the child primer, NAICS 326140.

1. Overview

NAICS 32614 is the five-digit "industry" level for turning polystyrene — a cheap, oil-and-gas-derived plastic — into foam: white molded coolers, cups and clamshell takeout boxes, protective packaging, rigid insulation board behind building siding, packing peanuts, and lightweight geofoam fill under highways [1][6]. The EPS Industry Alliance describes EPS foam as approximately 98% air, which is exactly why the products are light, cheap, and good insulators [8]. It is a real ~$11–12 billion U.S. manufacturing base [2] that splits into two opposite demand stories: low-margin foodservice and protective packaging (under sustained regulatory attack) and steadier, energy-code-driven building insulation [1][12].

This level is a pass-through. It contains exactly one child industry, 326140, with the same name and the same scope, so the five-digit rollup and the six-digit leaf are effectively identical. Everything below is a summary — for the full breakdown of products, companies, economics, and regulation, see the 326140 primer.

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

NAICS groups codes in a hierarchy: a five-digit "industry" (32614) can contain several six-digit "national industries." Here it contains only one:

Because there is a single child, 32614 and 326140 describe the same firms, the same shipments, and the same employment. There is no aggregation across siblings and nothing is lost by reading the child page. (For context on what sits outside this code, the child primer covers the adjacent codes — 325211 resin-making, 326150 urethane/other foams, and molded-fiber food-container codes — that capture the neighboring value chain [6][11].)

3. How big it is (this level's rollup figures)

Federal ground truth for NAICS 32614 (identical to 326140 because of the single-child structure):

Concentration (share of industry receipts, 2022 Economic Census) [2]: largest 4 firms 41.6%, largest 8 49.8%, largest 20 68.3%, largest 50 86.7%. So the top 4 take ~42% and the top 50 take ~87%, leaving the remaining ~240 firms to split about 13% — a "few big, many small" structure. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI, the standard concentration statistic) is suppressed in our federal data, so we do not state one.

Private estimate for context: market-research firm IBISWorld pegs industry revenue near $10.4 billion in 2025, and — notably — describes it as shrinking (a reported ~7% year-over-year decline) as foam bans bite [1]. Treat that figure as an estimate; the $11.78B census number is the authoritative benchmark, measured in 2022.

Undercount caveat (investability, not measurement). The federal statistics count the industry fine. The distortion is on the public-market side: the true giants — Dart Container (private family firm), Novolex (private-equity-owned), and the insulation leaders (line items inside multi-billion-dollar conglomerates) — are largely invisible to stock investors [5][10][14][15]. Ownership is not dominated by government or micro-operators, so the business statistics are reliable; what is hard to find is a clean public share.

4. Investable universe — where value concentrates

Because this level is its one child, value concentrates exactly as in 326140: overwhelmingly in private hands, with only thin, indirect public exposure. There is no U.S.-listed pure play. Full company tables are in the child primer; the headline split:

• Public (foam is a segment, not the company): Carlisle Companies (NYSE: CSL — Insulfoam EPS insulation), Owens Corning (NYSE: OC — Foamular XPS insulation; Insulation segment produced $3.7B in 2025 sales and $848M EBITDA at 23% margin, though that segment includes substantial non-polystyrene operations), DuPont (NYSE: DD — Styrofoam-brand XPS insulation), Kingspan (Dublin/London — some polystyrene board) [5][10][14][19].
• Private / other major owners (where the weight sits): Dart Container (world's largest foam cup/container maker), Novolex (PE-owned; acquired Pactiv Evergreen for $6.7B, April 2025), Atlas Molded Products (describes itself as the nation's largest EPS manufacturer), Alleguard (Wynnchurch-assembled platform spanning packaging, appliances, building products, cold chain, automotive, and general industrial markets), WinCup, Genpak [5][15][22][24].

Takeaway: to own this industry's economics directly you generally need private markets; public equities offer diluted exposure weighted toward the insulation end. See 326140 §4 for tickers and detail.

5. How the money works

Commodity-manufacturing economics: volume × conversion spread, capacity utilization, and freight — not branded pricing power (except in insulation). The dominant cost is polystyrene resin, whose price tracks styrene → oil and natural gas; Pactiv's SEC filings note that resin prices historically fluctuate with supply and demand and are influenced by crude oil and monomer prices, with failure or delay in passing increases through to customers compressing margins [11][25]. Foam is ~95%+ air, so "you're shipping air" — bulky, light product makes outbound freight expensive and forces a regional plant network (the EPS Industry Alliance notes its membership includes more than 50 small businesses operating across 44 states [8]). Two margin profiles sit under this one code: near-commodity, shrinking foodservice/packaging versus better-margin, energy-code-driven insulation [1][12]. Full mechanics are in 326140 §5.

6. Demand drivers

Same as the child: (a) foodservice and takeout volumes — structurally eroding wherever foam is banned; (b) protective and cold-chain packaging — tied to industrial output and e-commerce (Wynnchurch's investment thesis for Drew Foam specifically identified geofoam and insulated cold-chain containers for food and healthcare as growth categories [21]); (c) building-energy efficiency — the growth engine, via rigid EPS/XPS board, insulated concrete forms (ICFs) and geofoam pulled by tightening energy codes; and (d) input-cost/oil cycles that swing resin costs and volumes [3][9][12].

7. Regulation

Regulation is the defining force and it cuts against the packaging half. As of mid-2025, roughly a dozen states plus Washington, D.C. ban expanded-polystyrene (EPS) foodservice foam, with more expected by 2030 [3][9]. California restricts the sale and distribution of EPS foodservice ware after producers failed to demonstrate the required 25% recycling rate under its extended-producer-responsibility law (SB 54); the CalRecycle restriction took effect January 1, 2025 [22][23]. Oregon's restrictions took effect January 1, 2025 for foam prepared-food containers and packing peanuts [25]. Washington prohibits specified EPS loose fill, coolers, and foodservice products, while retaining exemptions for items including block protective packaging and certain food trays [24]. Drivers: foam's very low recyclability (post-consumer recovery reported below ~1%) [13] and health scrutiny of styrene (listed by the U.S. National Toxicology Program as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen," with OSHA identifying central-nervous-system effects from occupational exposure) [13][26]. A separate, non-existential pressure hits the growth side: EPA's AIM Act technology-transition rule limits the blowing-agent GWP for extruded polystyrene boardstock to 150, with the manufacturing and import restriction beginning January 1, 2025 [27]. DuPont converted its Styrofoam brand to a low-GWP grey product in late 2023; Owens Corning completed its Foamular NGX reformulation before the federal deadline [14]. Detail in 326140 §7.

8. Consolidation

A two-tier structure — a handful of large converters plus a long regional tail kept viable by freight economics. Foodservice is consolidating and diversifying away from foam (Novolex's ~$6.7B Pactiv Evergreen deal, completed April 2025, created a food-and-beverage-packaging giant spanning fiber, resin and recycled content — explicitly hedging beyond foam; Pactiv itself warned that state and local foam bans could shift demand toward higher-value paper, molded-fiber, polypropylene, and PET products [15][21][25]). Private-equity roll-ups are active: Alleguard demonstrates that a buy-and-build strategy is executable, with Wynnchurch continuing to seek add-on acquisitions [24]. Insulation is a scale-and-brand game led by Carlisle, Owens Corning, DuPont and Kingspan [5][14][12]. See 326140 §8.

9. Risks

Structural regulatory attrition (the foam-ban map only expands); substitution by molded fiber, paper and compostables (highest where performance requirements are modest — cups, clamshells, loose fill — lower in tightly engineered OEM packaging, high-compressive-strength insulation, geofoam, and validated pharmaceutical cold-chain systems); resin/oil-linked input-cost volatility; construction and industrial cyclicality; a reputational/health overhang; and — for public investors — the difficulty of isolating foam value buried inside diversified companies [3][13][11][14]. Full list in 326140 §9.

10. How to invest & outlook

No pure play exists. Realistic public exposure is to the insulation side via diversified building-products companies (CSL, OC, DD, and internationally Kingspan), where polystyrene foam is one modest, growing product line — bought for the broader building-materials thesis, with foam as a rider [5][14][12]. The industry's weight, and the cleaner ways to own it, sit in private markets (PE-owned packaging franchises repositioning toward fiber; family-owned Dart; regional converters with local freight moats) [5][15][24]. Outlook: foodservice/packaging keeps contracting as bans spread through 2030 — the private-estimate revenue decline already showing up in 2025 is likely to persist for foam-specific volumes [1] — while insulation keeps growing on energy codes and retrofit demand. Value is migrating, within this code and out of it, from foam packaging toward foam insulation and non-foam substitutes. Because 32614 equals 326140, read the 326140 primer for the complete how-to-invest and outlook.

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Sources

Drawn from the child primer (NAICS 326140). Federal figures for this level (receipts, firm count, concentration ratios, employment, establishments, payroll) are from our ingested ground-truth stats (2022 Economic Census; 2023 County Business Patterns), consistent with the child.

1. IBISWorld. "Polystyrene Foam Manufacturing in the US — Industry Analysis," 2025. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/polystyrene-foam-manufacturing/517/
2. U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Economic Census — Concentration & receipts, NAICS 326140 (firms 290; receipts $11.78B; CR4 41.6% / CR8 49.8% / CR20 68.3% / CR50 86.7%; HHI suppressed), 2022. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census.html
3. Earth911 / Resource Recycling. "EPS Foam Packaging & Products Bans Expand to Oregon, California, and Other States"; California SB 54 EPS reporting, 2024–2025. https://earth911.com/food-beverage/eps-foam-packaging-products-bans-expand-to-oregon-california-and-three-other-states/
4. U.S. Census Bureau. 2023 County Business Patterns — NAICS 326140 (establishments 425; employment 28,573; annual payroll $1.68B), 2023. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
5. Wikipedia. "Dart Container," 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dart_Container
6. U.S. Census Bureau / NAICS. "326140 Polystyrene Foam Product Manufacturing — definition and scope," 2022. https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=326140
7. U.S. Small Business Administration. "Table of Size Standards" — NAICS 326140 (1,000 employees), 2023. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
8. EPS Industry Alliance. EPS foam characteristics and membership information, 2024. https://www.epsindustry.org/
9. Packaging Gateway. "US states ban Styrofoam packaging" (state-by-state ban list and dates), 2024–2025. https://www.packaging-gateway.com/news/us-states-ban-polystyrene-foam-packaging/
10. Carlisle Companies. "Energy-efficient Insulfoam" (Insulfoam = largest U.S. block-molded EPS insulation maker), 2021. https://www.carlisle.com/our-stories/our-stories-archive/our-stories/2021/Energy-efficient-Insulfoam/default.aspx
11. Alpek / Styropek and MRC. "Alpek acquires NOVA Chemicals' styrenics business" (EPS resin producers, upstream value chain), 2020. https://www.alpek.com/press-release-alpek-signs-agreement-acquisition-styrenics-business/
12. Grand View Research. "Insulated Concrete Form Market" and geofoam market sizing (polystyrene ~half of ICF; mid-single-digit growth), 2024–2025. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/insulated-concrete-form-market
13. World Centric / Beyond Plastics. "The Perils of Polystyrene" and polystyrene fact sheet (styrene NTP classification; <1% recycling rate), 2023–2024. https://www.worldcentric.com/take-action/polystyrene/
14. DuPont. "DuPont Simplifies Styrofoam Brand Nomenclature and Unveils New Color for Low-GWP Insulation" (Styrofoam = XPS brand; late-2023 low-GWP reformulation; Owens Corning Foamular XPS), 2024. https://www.dupont.com/news/styrofoam-brand-xps-new-name-and-color-and-2024-heroes-of-chemistry-award.html
15. Packaging Dive / Resource Recycling. "Novolex completes $6.7B acquisition of Pactiv Evergreen" (April 2025; $18.00/share; Apollo + CPP Investments), 2024–2025. https://www.packagingdive.com/news/novolex-closes-acquisition-pactiv-evergreen/744049/
16. Owens Corning. "Owens Corning Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Results" (Insulation segment $3.7B sales, $848M EBITDA, 23% margin), 2026. https://s21.q4cdn.com/855213745/files/doc_news/Owens-Corning-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2025-Results-2026.pdf
17. Apollo Global Management / PR Newswire. "Novolex and Pactiv Evergreen Inc. Complete Combination" (April 1, 2025 closing; $6.7B transaction), 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novolex-and-pactiv-evergreen-inc-complete-combination-creating-a-leading-manufacturer-in-food-beverage-and-specialty-packaging-302417036.html
18. Atlas Molded Products. Company overview (describes itself as nation's largest EPS manufacturer; product mix spans insulation, geofoam, cold chain, OEM, packaging), 2025. https://www.atlasmoldedproducts.com/
19. Wynnchurch Capital. Alleguard portfolio description (Drew Foam, Huntington Solutions, ICA, FPM, CBIS, Amvic platform; continues to seek add-ons), 2025. https://www.wynnchurch.com/portfolio/alleguard
20. Pactiv Evergreen. Form 10-K discussion (resin price fluctuation, pass-through risk, state and local foam bans, substitute materials), 2024. https://fintel.io/doc/sec-pactiv-evergreen-inc-1527508-10k-2023-march-07-19423-8400
21. Wynnchurch Capital. "Wynnchurch Capital Acquires Drew Foam Companies" (geofoam and cold-chain containers identified as growth categories), 2019. https://www.wynnchurch.com/news/wynnchurch-capital-acquires-drew-foam-companies
22. California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). "EPS Packaging and Foodservice Ware" (SB 54 EPS restrictions after 25% recycling-rate failure), 2025. https://calrecycle.ca.gov/packaging/packaging-epr/eps/
23. CalRecycle. Compliance notice — EPS sale and distribution restrictions effective January 1, 2025, 2024. https://www2.calrecycle.ca.gov/Docs/Web/131058
24. Washington State Department of Ecology. "Expanded Polystyrene Ban" (loose fill, coolers, foodservice products; exemptions for block packaging and certain food trays), 2024. https://ecology.wa.gov/waste-toxics/reducing-recycling-waste/plastics/2021-plastic-pollution-laws/expanded-polystyrene-ban
25. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. "Polystyrene Restrictions" (effective January 1, 2025 for prepared-food containers and packing peanuts), 2024. https://www.oregon.gov/deq/mm/production/Pages/polystyrene.aspx
26. U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Styrene health effects overview (central-nervous-system effects from occupational exposure), 2024. https://www.osha.gov/styrene
27. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. AIM Act technology-transition rule (XPS boardstock blowing-agent GWP limit of 150; effective January 1, 2025), 2024. https://www.epa.gov/hfcs/technology-transitions-hfc-restrictions-sector