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Recyclability & Circularity

100% Recyclable by design

The latest statistics show that European recycling rates hover around an average of 50%,broken down into different categories, but notably 64% of total packaging waste. With an average growth of its recycling rate of 4 % per year, EPS can play a significant role in improving these figures.

EPS is 100% recyclable and already widely recycled. However, the EPS industry is committed to further boosting there cycling rates of our material. Various recycling methods, such as mechanical, physical and chemical, offer viable solutions to EPS waste, offering suitable technology for all waste streams, no matter how contaminated. As mechanical recycling technology offers the highest sustainability, separate collection is preferred to keep materials sorted. These efforts are assisted by ambitious platforms such as Reco Trace®, which enable a comprehensive tracking of recycling tonnage and use of plastic materials.

The Contribution of EPS

  • In Insulation:

EPS is defined by its customisability. First, EPS boards are cut with a hot-wire and tailored to fit any placement or application in building insulation. This step is 100% clean, as it only produces cut-offs, which are collected and fully reprocessed into new products through mechanical recycling.

A process that relies on grinding uncontaminated cut-offs back into beads before mixing them with virgin material to produce new insulation. The material can also be returned to raw material by extruding (melting) it.

This effectively puts us back at the start of the production cycle of EPS, where the addition of a blowing agent will produce new raw material. When EPS is contaminated or contains phased out chemicals, such as the flame-retardant HBCD mechanical recycling is no longer enough. In this case, we turn to dissolution, otherwise known as physical recycling, and chemical recycling.

Both methods offer a viable solution to close the loop for EPS. Dissolution delivers clean recycled polystyrene, whilst chemical recycling can break EPS down to its original monomer, from which new virgin material can be produced.

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  • In Packaging:

EPS packaging can be recycled several times throughout its lifecycle. Across numerous industries such as healthcare and research (for medicine and vaccines), fishing, agriculture (transport of seedlings and plants) and white goods. All have in common their active recycling of EPS on a large scale.

Once the packaging has served its purpose, it is collected, recycled and reintroduce into the economy.

This process follows rigorous guidelines. First off, the separate collection of EPS ensures it is not mixed with other waste and prevents contamination. Modern sorting facilities are designed to sort EPS out of mixed plastic house hold waste, for instance. Following its collection, the material is thoroughly cleaned to remove contaminants. It is often compacted at this stage for ease of transport. Finally, the material is either ground back into beads or put into an extruder where it is melted to be recycled. This ensures EPS always remains within the economy and stands as a shining example of circularity. Where possible, EPS packaging is also re-used, as is the case in food catering when hygienic requirements allow it.

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The Voice of the
‍European EPS industry
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info@eumeps.org
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design: inextremis.be