a mobile platform including an extruder for melting and extruding materials for producing lightweight , compostable or biobased foams for various expandable materials . a mobile platform is described including a screw extruder for processing poly meric material , a housing with a longitudinal bore in which an extruder screw is coaxially fitted for rotation around an axis of the screw to advance the polymeric material through the bore by threads on the screw . a feed hopper , pla hoist / feeder , standard eps machine equipped with electric heating and related equipment are also provided on the mobile platform . distributed manufacturing of low density protective packaging , insulation panels and thermal insulators is also described .