The companies aim to establish the circularity of polystyrene by using recycled material to develop and test recycled PS packaging

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Image: Trinseo partners with Greiner Packaging to increase recycled PS use. Photo: courtesy of Ulrike Mai from Pixabay.

US-based manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber Trinseo has partnered with Greiner Packaging, an Austria-based plastic packaging manufacturer for food and non-food sectors, to advance the use of recycled polystyrene (PS).

The companies aim to establish the circularity of PS by using recycled material to develop and test recycled PS packaging.

To advance the circular solutions for PS, Trinseo is engaged in several partnerships and initiatives that include construction of PS chemical recycling facility, which will be built in Europe.

The company is planning to offer products with an average of 30% recycled content to customers in Europe by 2025.

Trinseo is also serving as a founding member of Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS), which is a consortium that explores new methods for PS recycling. Furthermore, it partnered with waste supply chain to identify alternatives to increase the volume of plastics disposed and recovered through waste separation.

PS circularity offers potential for closed loop recycling

Greiner Packaging plastics category manager Gernot Desch said: “At Greiner Packaging, our vision is to design and form sustainable plastic solutions for a more livable future worldwide.

“We are aware of our responsibility and therefore focus on sustainable actions and solutions for a circular economy at all product groups. With our strategy, we want to show that sustainability and plastics do not conflict with one another.”

Trinseo said that the full PS circularity offers a unique potential for closed loop recycling with two fewer steps than recycling other polymers.

In May this year, AmSty and Agilyx established a new joint venture (JV) firm, Regenyx, for the recycling of post-consumer PS materials into new PS products.

Regenyx deploys chemical recycling process of Agilyx to convert used polystyrene products back to their original liquid form styrene monomer.

AmSty is a joint venture between Trinseo and Chevron Phillips Chemical.

Trinseo has 16 manufacturing facilities and about 2,500 employees across the world.