A new partnership between Tomra, Ineos Styrolution and EGN Entsorgungsgesellschaft Niederrhein has been announced. The three companies - the first, a collection and sorting specialist; the second, a leading styrenics producer and the third, a recycler - have joined forces on an extraordinary new project which will see post-consumer polystyrene waste being converted into recycled polystyrene for food packaging applications.
EGN will build a greenfield advanced mechanical recycling facility able to process 40kt of post-consumer PS waste per year. The new plant will be located in Krefeld, Germany and, according to the partners, will be the first large-scale facility of its kind.
Tomra Feedstock will collect post-consumer polystyrene food packaging waste, which it will deliver to the new site in Krefeld, Germany, while EGN will manage the sorting and washing processes.
Ineos will oversee the implementation of its proprietary, super-cleaning purification process, a technology that produces rPS able to comply with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) requirements for food contact applications. The process, said Dr. Frank Eisenträger, ECO & market development manager at Ineos Styrolution Switzerland, is a decontamination technology in the melt phase. Crucial to the process is the application of high temperatures and a vacuum pump to remove moisture and oxygen. The process is similar to existing processes used for PET, Eisenträger noted, and also resembles the two PS-recycling technologies that SCS notified to EFSA. Ineos developed its own technology ‘to ensure that we have the upscaling possibilities we need in order to run big volumes in the future’.
PS is proven to be one of the best sortable plastics in the waste stream and is one of only two polymers that can achieve food-contact qualities with mechanical recycling.
“I expect the dairy industry to especially benefit from this new offering by allowing them to mechanically recycle from yoghurt pot to yoghurt pot creating a true circular economy for this material,” said Pierre Vincent, managing director at EGN.
The material offers infinite recyclability, retaining its virgin-quality property profile after many mechanical recycling cycles. A low-diffusive polymer, it takes up very few contaminants in the waste stream.
As Jürgen Priesters, senior vice president of Tomra Feedstock, pointed out, “Polystyrene has the right composition to be recycled mechanically for food applications. The mission of Tomra Feedstock is to keep PS in a true circularity.”
“Our three companies bring complementary expertise to this project, and because of this unique collaboration, we will be able to provide customers with high-performing circular polystyrene produced at a significantly lower carbon footprint. Already, we are seeing high interest from customers and brand owners to secure long-term contracts,” added Steve Harrington, CEO Ineos Styrolution.
The new plant in Krefeld is scheduled for start up mid-2025, after which commercial quantities of rPS will be available to Ineos Styrolution’s customers.