Coexpan takes part in he polystyrene recycling project in France

COEXPAN is participating in the French RECYQUALIPSO initiative led by Syndifrais (French Union of Fresh Dairy Product Manufacturers) in collaboration with Valorplast (experts in the recycling of household plastic packing).

The project is one of 30 selected by CITEO in 2019 to further developments by providing financial support to improve the recyclability of plastic packaging, to advance in the integration of recycled materials in packaging, to develop more sustainable alternative solutions and to modernise waste sorting centres and recycling plants.

Given that polystyrene is one of the main resins used in dairy product packaging, the aim of RECYQUALIPSO is to contribute to the development of PS recycling in France by optimising the quality of the recycled material of yoghurt pots for new applications like plastic extrusion sheet for containers or food-contact packaging applications and developing more efficient recycling technologies (new sorting stages, optimisation of cleaning conditions, etc.)

As one of several participants in this initiative, COEXPAN is involved as a member of Syndifrais, and performs an essential role at the end of the value chain, by extruding recovered material for its subsequent thermoforming into containers and packaging. Based on various economic, technical and environmental analyses that take into consideration different recovery scenarios (mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, or new technologies, etc.) the optimal treatment will be defined to develop it on an industrial scale.

Another important initiative associated with circularity that the company is involved in, is the EPS SURE Life Project, subsidised by the European Commission and aimed at designing an innovative system for the collection, pre-treatment and recycling of expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste to produce new polystyrene packaging (PS) suitable for food contact.

In addition, COEXPAN has recently announced its participation in the Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS) association, whose goal is to increase the circularity of styrenes. The initiative involves the whole of the value chain in the development and industrialisation of new recycling technologies and solutions.