A recent report from France has emerged people’s confidence in polystyrene recycling. At the end of 18 months of work, the PS25 consortium, created in 2020, formally undertakes to participate in the financing of the start-up of the polystyrene packaging recycling sector. This will make it possible to be part of a circular economy, reduce the harmful effects of polystyrene packaging, and achieve the objectives of the "AGEC law for the control and reduction of virgin plastics placed on the market".



The reason why polystyrene works in the packaging industry is polystyrene is 98% air. So that polystyrene can better protect those goods from damage. But its disadvantage is also obvious. Polystyrene is hard to biodegrade. Once polystyrene was buried in the soil, it will take hundreds of years to fracture into smaller microplastic, which ends in animals’ stomachs or people’s blood. Polystyrene can’t be removed.



Polystyrene has been used to make household packaging for decades. Now it’s time to solve severe environmental problems caused by polystyrene waste. But of the 100,000 tonnes put on the market each year in France, less than 5,000 tonnes are recycled and only for low value-added products (hangers, flower pots, etc.). As the law bans packaging without a recycling solution in 2025, the agri-food industry has formed the PS25 consortium to fund any solutions that emerge.



The work carried out by the actors of the consortium covered all the stages of the polystyrene recycling value chain. The results validated the technical and economic feasibility of creating this sector. According to the conclusions, the supply of polystyrene household packaging is sufficient to allow priming. The collection and sorting of polystyrene packaging are also “on a path of progress thanks to the extension of sorting instructions” thus allowing the rise of a recycling sector. On the technological side, the players have already identified recycling technologies that are in the process of being industrialized. "If mechanical recycling technologies already exist, the emergence of new advanced recycling technologies offers interesting prospects because they make it possible to guarantee the suitability for food contact for the recycled material", they specify in a press release. For example. Now machinery recycling is a way which is accepted by more people. A suitable polystyrene recycling machine, such as the GREENMAX polystyrene compactor can help reduce polystyrene’s volume and process it into blocks. Then polystyrene blocks will be used in making various plastic products.



The present mature recycling process of polystyrene has enhanced the confidence of the PS25 Consortium in polystyrene recycling. To support the emergence of this sector, the consortium will contribute to its financing, to the guarantee of purchase of the recycled polystyrene, and to the continuation of work on the eco-design of packaging to best meet the specifications of recyclers. INTCO Recycling will also keep providing the best polystyrene recycling schemes and GREENMAX polystyrene recycling machines for customers from all over the world.