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Polyethylene. It’s a closed-cell foam made from millions of tiny bubbles pressed together. That’s why it’s such a great pool toy — water can’t penetrate the foam cells, and it’s light enough to float. The material bends but bounces back from compression and retains its shape.
You’ve probably seen polyethylene in packing materials. If you’ve ever done any plumbing work, you might have noticed foam pipe insulation and pool noodles are the same thing.
Polyethylene foam can be difficult to recycle. Fortunately there are lots of non-pool uses for pool noodles, so you can reuse them all over the garage and throughout the house.
They’re so handy it’s worth keeping a few pool noodles around the workshop. And if you can’t find a pool noodle, you can always grab some pipe insulation at the hardware store.
You’ll find some of our favorite pool noodle hacks in the list below.
