First commercial polystyrene recycling plant. Representing an investment of $40 million, this plant will recycle 9,000 tons of post-consumer and post-industrial polystyrene waste annually, with a high degree of contamination. This amount is equivalent to 15% of the polystyrene buried in Quebec each year. ​ Polystyvert uses a pair of solvents, initially cymene and later heptane, to separate the good stuff from the bad while recycling EPS. ​This allows for the removal of contaminants through filtration and purification, The company, CEO Nathalie Morin said. "At the end, once all of the contaminants have been removed, we add another solvent, and that solvent will precipitate the polystyrene so the polystyrene comes back to a solid phase. And then you are left with the solvent and a paste of polystyrene, which we can separate. We recycle the solvent and form pellets of polystyrene." ​ Polystyvert has been operating a demonstration plant since 2018 that can produce 1,000 tons of recycled EPS per year, mostly for customers to use in production trials. The new project will be located in the Montreal area, but the company is not revealing an exact location at this point. ​ In addition to its full-scale polystyrene recycling plant, Polystyvert is proud to announce the establishment of a new pilot plant at its research and development center located in the east of Montreal. The company has expanded its process and intellectual property to another styrenic plastic, ABS. This thermoplastic polymer is widely used in the automotive, electronics, and toy industries. ​ #circulareconomy #circulareconomynews #recycling #polystyrene