PlasticsEurope has launched an initiative to promote innovative recycling solutions for Polystyrene, in a push to support the European Union's circular economy plan.
In a 29 June statement, the Brussels-based trade group said it had set up a Chemical Recycling Working Group aimed to engage the value chain in the development and “industrialisation” of promising new recycling technologies.
Focusing on chemical recycling, the initiative will target converting collected post-consumer polystyrene waste into virgin polystyrene.
To that end, new technologies are to be developed to enable the incorporation of post-consumer waste into plastic manufacturers' production processes. The aim is to generate “high-quality” polystyrene to meet demanding standards, ultimately for food contact applications.
“These technologies, through an extensive collaboration along the value chain, will provide efficient and sustainable solutions to today's environmental challenges”, said Norbert Niessner, chairman of the Chemical Recycling Working Group after its kick-off meeting.
“The initiative paves the way for increasing the circularity of plastics. Finding new ways to recycle represents an increased opportunity to save valuable resources for future generations and avoid plastics ending up in landfills” said Karl-H. Foerster, executive director, PlasticsEurope.
The initiative is part of the activities announced by PlasticsEurope at the K2016 to maximise the full potentials of plastics in delivering resource efficiency gains within the circular economy.