“Do You Accept EPS Scrap and How Can You Help Us With That and MORE?” This is the latest question in our FAQ series.
EPS, expanded polystyrene, is used to make many products that touch our lives every day. At Plymouth Foam, we make components for construction and OEM applications where the long-term benefits of constant R-value are exactly what makes Airpop® EPS the primary material of choice for economical and reliable performance.
Not all EPS manufacturers accept clean EPS scrap from companies that they don’t produce EPS products for. At Plymouth Foam, we do! We believe in the importance of recycling. In addition to taking back product from the community, we recycle our facility scrap using the same process. Just as post-consumer EPS can be recycled, EPS facility scrap can be recycled, too.
According to the most recent recycling rate report from the EPS Industry Alliance, 39 million pounds of EPS scrap has been recycled compared to nearly 26 million pounds of post-consumer EPS recycling. The rate of post-consumer EPS and EPS scrap recycling is one of the highest among all kinds of plastics. For the past 15 years, the worldwide EPS industry managed to recycle an average of 19 percent of post-consumer and 25 percent of post-industrial EPS.
There are still barriers to recycling EPS scrap. Business must have incentive to invest in EPS compactors/densifiers and there must be stable markets and increasing demand for the end products. With new reprocessing facilities opened in 2018, we anticipate growth in EPS recycling to continue although not at previous rates as a result of export restrictions.
Plymouth Foam offers solutions for post-consumer EPS and EPS scrap. Contact us and we will collaborate with you.
We love it when you ask us these questions. Please continue to ask more or reach out to our team directly: sales@plymouthfoam.com.
As an industry leader, we feel it is important to share our expertise and continue to educate and inform others of Plymouth Foam’s materials’ capabilities and industry trends.