Officials say efforts to remove dock foam at lake successful

KANSAS CITY — AmerenUE officials say their efforts to remove damaging dock foam from the Lake of the Ozarks have been largely successful.

In 1995, Ameren began banning foam not wrapped in some form of liner because it can break apart, endangering boats and cluttering the shoreline.

Dock owners are required to remove the foam by Jan. 1 or risk losing their dock permits.

Ameren shoreline management supervisor Jeff Green says a survey of the 25,000 floating structures on the lake this summer found that around 2,000 docks still used the banned foam, or less than 10 percent of the total.

He said about 40 percent of the foam coming off the lake is being recycled by two companies that use it to make other products. The rest is going to landfills.