Pioneering PS recycling project. New facility will convert post-consumer polystyrene waste into food contact polystyrene. ​ TOMRA, INEOS Styrolution, and EGN Entsorgungsgesellschaft Niederrhein have announced a project to convert post-consumer polystyrene (PS) waste into recycled polystyrene for food packaging applications. EGN, a subsidiary of the SWK AG, will build an advanced mechanical recycling facility with a capacity to process 40 kt of post-consumer polystyrene (PS) waste per year. It is expected to be the first large-scale facility of its kind. The new facility will be located in Krefeld, Germany. It is expected to start up in mid-2025. Tomra Feedstock will collect post-consumer polystyrene food packaging waste, while EGN will manage the sorting and washing processes. Ineos will oversee the implementation of its proprietary, super-cleaning purification process, a technology that produces rPS able to comply with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) requirements for food contact applications. The process, said Dr. Frank Eisenträger, ECO & market development manager at Ineos Styrolution Switzerland, is a decontamination technology in the melt phase. Crucial to the process is the application of high temperatures and a vacuum pump to remove moisture and oxygen. The process is similar to existing processes used for PET, Eisenträger noted, and also resembles the two PS-recycling technologies that SCS notified to EFSA. Ineos developed its own technology ‘to ensure that we have the upscaling possibilities we need in order to run big volumes in the future’. PS is one of the best sortable plastics in the waste stream and is one of only two polymers that can achieve food-contact qualities with mechanical recycling. The material offers infinite recyclability, retaining its property profile after many mechanical recycling cycles at virgin quality levels. Due to its properties, PS absorbs fewer contaminants in the waste stream. The new plant in Krefeld is scheduled for start up mid-2025, after which commercial quantities of rPS will be available to Ineos Styrolution’s customers. ​ #circulareconomynews #mechanicalrecycling #polystyrenewaste #TOMRA #INEOS #polymers