Say It With Us, AIRPOP!

                 Airpop. Even the name brings a smile to our face. We mean, how can it not? Chances are that you’ve said the word several times in your head (perhaps in different voices?); it’s so FUN…and creative. Even the initial page on their website states: We believe the world would be a better place, if we would use our resources in a smatter way. Resources are limited. Ideas are not.

                 In North America, expanded polystyrene is often incorrectly known as ‘Styrofoam’ (a trademark of the Dow Chemical Company for blue foam insulation board). In Europe, there are many inaccurate monikers for EPS; a new effort by the European Manufacturers of EPS (EUMEPS) has put an end of this variety by adopting a common European name for EPS: airpop ® engineered air.

                The name airpop immediately brings to mind what EPS is made of: air. A lot of air. In fact, 98% air, to be precise; a fraction is made of raw material (which expands to 50 times its own volume). Airpop® is considered the smartest way of using resources. It is completely non-toxic, has low CO₂ , helps saves energy and can be recycled up to seven times.

                The airpop® campaign is a joint industry initiative with EUMEPS, European manufactures and their respective National EPS Associations and European EPS raw material producers. Airpop® represents an industry of approximately 600 (mainly small and medium sized) converters in Europe. They process about 1.3 million tons of raw material into airpop® products; a variety of applications for building and construction as well as packaging parts.