Expanded polystyrene, or airpop as it is known today, suffers from a bad reputation that it does not deserve.
As part of the German IK Association for Plastic Packaging and Film, these two groups have issued a statement clarifying that “airpop can be recycled and is being recycled successfully.” In fact, the recycling rate for airpop packages is around 50% in Germany, and the trend is upward.
Airpop offers protective and insulating properties during the first stage of its useful life, and can then be used as a secondary raw material for recycling. However, the “Guidelines for assessing the recyclability of packaging subject to compulsory participation in a dual system” published by the German Central Office for Packaging Registration (ZSVR) are causing uncertainty. EPS is excluded from the group of “good materials” and therefore by definition classified by the Central Office as not recyclable.
This classification is based on purely business decisions of the classification companies, says Mara Hancker, head of public relations at IK Industrievereinigung and the contact person for the airpop think tank. These companies lack the necessary facilities to handle EPS.
She pointed out that the volumes of EPS collected through the yellow sack scheme, under which households collect recyclable plastics in a yellow bag, are small, in addition to the fact that the material offers excellent results in energy recovery. “This classification has nothing to do with the actual physical recyclability of the material,” he said.
According to Hanker, classifying the material as non-recyclable is an unfair stigmatization and puts airpop, “despite its ecological benefits”, at a disadvantage compared to other materials. “Substitution with ecologically disadvantageous materials is not in the interest of the environment and not in the spirit of the Packaging Law.”
Today, most airpop manufacturers are collected, mainly from white goods and furniture, and transferred to specialized recyclers, who reprocess the airpop packages for new airpop applications.
The airpop think tank is trying to further expand EPS recycling and actively shape the airpop loop. To that end, it is supporting the development of new recycling processes, such as the European Union-funded PolyStyrene Loop or the Canadian PolyStyvert process. A PolyStyvert trial is currently underway in Canada using separate airpop packages from the yellow sack scheme in Germany. Chemical recycling by the raw material producing industry is also being intensively sought as a special option for high quality recycling. The solutions are also being examined internationally through the European association EUMEPS.
