Clean technology company, GreenMantra Technologies has partnered with Sun Chemical, a producer of printing inks, to jointly develop polymers from recycled polystyrene waste.
The partnership aims to produce sustainable styrenic polymers that act as a substitute for fossil fuel-based materials to use in ink formulations.
The process involves combining GreenMantra's new polystyrene technology with Sun Chemical's expertise in inks formulation while reusing waste material.
As a part of the project, the clean technology company will build a pilot plant at its manufacturing unit located in Brantford, Ontario, with an annual capacity of 1000 metric tons.
The pilot project helps in providing sufficient amount of converted material to trail in inks and other end-use applications and also for initial commercial sales.
Earlier in September, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) it was offering $2.2m in funding toward construction of the pilot facility.
Usually, polystyrene plastic is used in consumer products, food and product packaging and various other applications in rigid and foam form.
Polystyrene plastic has the lowest recycling rate resulting in increased landfill and one of the rapidly growing solid wastes.
Sun Chemical CEO Russell Schwartz said: "This work is part of Sun Chemical's ongoing efforts to develop new ink products that couple beneficial environmental profiles with improved performance.
"We believe these new polymers may provide enhanced physical properties in select ink applications, while diverting polystyrene from the waste stream."
GreenMantra supplies materials that can be used in coatings, plastics processing, adhesives, roofing and paving industries.