INEOS Styrolution launches recycled polystyrene for food contact applications

INEOS Styrolution, the global frontrunner in styrenics, has announced the successful completion of its first project using mechanically recycled polystyrene in yogurt cups. This significant milestone was achieved through the collaboration of various partners across the value chain.

Source: PackagingStrategies

The mechanical recycling of polystyrene involves several steps, including sorting (utilizing deep NIR sorting and object recognition), hot washing, flake sorting, melt filtration, and pelletizing.

Central to this process is INEOS Styrolution’s “super clean process,” recognized as a novel technology under EU regulation 2022/1616. This innovative approach allows INEOS Styrolution to produce food contact quality recyclates previously associated only with PET bottle recycling.

Polystyrene arrived in the champions league of recycled food contact materials. It will enable producers to meet the new requirements of the new EU directive PPWR for packaging and packaging waste.

The recycled material maintains the same physical properties as traditionally produced polystyrene, providing an effective circular solution. Comprehensive quality controls were implemented for both the material and the cups, along with detailed analyses required for the EFSA evaluation of this new technology. Additionally, the environmental impact of the recycled material is notably lower than that of conventionally produced alternatives.

This is a milestone achievement on our common way to perfect circularity for polystyrene cups and towards fulfilment of the PPWR requirements as well as our own CO2 footprint reduction targets.

In spring 2024, a consumer test was conducted to assess the acceptance of the recycled polystyrene cups and their color, in partnership with Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller, one of Germany’s leading dairy producers. Several hundred yogurt cups made from recycled polystyrene were filled and offered to volunteers in an INEOS canteen for evaluation. An impressive 90% of testers expressed their willingness to purchase the product, with feedback indicating that they were open to the idea of a recycled cup having a different appearance than conventional ones. For instance, they found a non-white color completely acceptable.

The yogurts are set to hit the shelves of Lidl supermarkets early next year.