Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a lightweight, rigid cellular plastic that is used widely as packaging mediums. It is often used as packaging material in many industries, including fresh food, consumer goods and technology. It provides lightweight, low-cost waterproof protection.
However, polystyrene is hard to reuse, and the main reason is that it’s expensive to deal with. So many recycling and waste companies do not offer recycling services for polystyrene packaging. As a result, more and more polystyrene wastes are dumped and landfill, which eventually pollutes our environment.
In Australia about 45,000 tonnes of polystyrene is created and consumed each year. Most of this polystyrene is for long-term use, such as the insulation board used in house construction and engineering. However, about 40% (or 18000 tons per year) are recyclable after being in disposable containers or short-term packaging. The discarded polystyrene waste is a large amount of contaminants.
The Australian Packaging Association reports that only 29.7% of the polystyrene used in packaging is recycled. Part of the problem is that, when placed in a roadside bin, small pieces of polystyrene are mixed with other recyclable waste and are considered pollutants. As a result, most of the recycling programs not accept EPS bubbles for roadside recycling.
Recycling polystyrene packaging in Australia is not as difficult as you think. Actually many enterprises have been making efforts in this industry for many years. In 2015, Mebourne market, the Australian largest wholesale market, has adopted three polystyrene compactor from GREENMAX after know the machine from the exhibition IFAT. GREENMAX helps Mebourne market reduce the foam volume and purchased back the compacted polystyrene with good price.
Since then, GREENMAX and Mebourne market has established a long-term partnership. They are making efforts together to promote the recycling rate of waste polystyrene in Australia.