The Floral Industry Goes Green with EPS Compactor

Roses, carnations, lilies and other flowers are beautiful but fragile. To keep them fresh and intact during long-distance transport, EPS packaging plays a crucial role in the cold chain.

Currently, cardboard boxes are the main packaging material, but EPS foam boxes are still needed at various stages to provide insulation and protection. EPS maintains low temperatures over time, offers strong shock absorption and cushioning, and helps prevent flower damage. Additionally, placing flower cartons into EPS boxes before airport cold storage or air shipment enhances the overall cold chain performance.

However, during transport from the growing regions to cold chain centers and airports, large quantities of Styrofoam boxes are discarded after single use, making them one of the main sources of packaging waste in the flower supply chain. In fact, Styrofoam packaging recycling is entirely feasible and can bring extra profit to flower businesses.

Due to its large volume and light weight, Styrofoam takes up significant storage space. Many flower exporters and logistics companies have previously opted to pay for disposal or even landfill it—both costly options, now increasingly challenged by stricter environmental regulations.

In this context, an EPS compactor becomes a key tool for Styrofoam packaging recycling. This EPS recycling machine crushes and compresses the foam into high-density blocks, achieving up to 50:1 volume reduction, greatly improving handling efficiency.

After compression, Styrofoam boxes are transformed into dense blocks, significantly freeing up storage space, improving transport efficiency, and reducing transportation cost per unit. More importantly, these compressed blocks become a reusable resource, entering the Styrofoam packaging recycling loop as recycled Styrofoam, creating additional value for businesses.

These EPS blocks can be used to produce various eco-friendly products and have high recycling value. For example, INTCO Recycling is not only a supplier of EPS compactor, but also one of the world’s largest end users of recycled Styrofoam. The company operates over a dozen production lines for recycled picture frame moulding, turning collected foam into photo frames, outdoor decking, and more—exported to global markets.

For businesses in the flower supply chain, using an EPS compactor for Styrofoam packaging recycling is not only an environmentally responsible move, but also a smart choice to improve operational efficiency and reduce disposal costs. At the same time, the resulting recycled Styrofoam can be turned into continuous profit—truly turning waste into value.

Now is the perfect time for the flower industry to embrace green transformation.

Join INTCO Recycling and build a sustainable future together!