Ref. Ares(2018)1372490 - 13/03/2018
Press Release
Press Contact
Brussels, 29-06-2017
PlasticsEurope AISBL
Communications and Media Manager
Phone: +32 (2)
@plasticseurope.org
PlasticsEurope Launches Industry Initiative
to Drive Innovative Recycling Solutions for Polystyrene
Pro-active industry collaboration to address circular economy
Consumer waste to be turned into polystyrene ultimately for food-related
uses
PlasticsEurope launched today an initiative to promote innovative recycling solutions for
Polystyrene, in a push to support the European Union’s circular economy plan. The group aims
to engage the value chain in the development and industrialization of promising new recycling
technologies.
Focusing on chemical recycling, the PlasticsEurope initiative aims at converting collected post-
consumer polystyrene waste into virgin polystyrene. New technologies will enable the
incorporation of post-consumer waste into plastic manufacturers’ production processes. The
target is to generate high-quality polystyrene to meet the most demanding standards, ultimately
for food contact applications.
“These technologies, through an extensive collaboration along the value chain, will provide
efficient and sustainable solutions to today’s environmental chal enges”, said
,
Chairman of the Chemical Recycling Working Group after its kick-off meeting.
“The initiative paves the way to increasing the circularity of plastics. Finding new ways to
recycle represents an increased opportunity to save valuable resources for future generations
and avoid plastics ending up in landfil s” said Karl-H. Foerster, Executive Director,
PlasticsEurope. “New recycling technologies can further enhance the recovery of high value
feedstock from consumer waste”, he explained.
The initiative is part of th
e activities announced by PlasticsEurope at the K2016 to maximize the
fullest potential of plastics in delivering resource efficiency gains within the circular economy.
Editors’ note
PlasticsEurope is one of the leading European trade associations with centres in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan and Paris. We are networking with
European and national plastics associations and have more than 100 member companies, producing over 90% of all polymers across the EU28 member states
plus Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
The European plastics industry makes a significant contribution to the welfare in Europe by enabling innovation, creating quality of life to citizens and facilitating
resource efficiency and climate protection. More than 1.5 million people are working in approximately 60,000 companies (mainly small and medium sized
companies in the converting sector) to create a turnover above 340 bn EUR per year. The plastics industry includes polymer producers - represented by
PlasticsEurope, converters - represented by EuPC and machine manufacturers - represented by EUROMAP.
For further info see the web lin
ks: www.plasticseurope.org, www.plasticsconverters.eu, www.euromap.org.