 State-of the-art technologies sort post-consumer polystyrene waste content with final product purity higher than 99.9%.

 The combination of INEOS Styrolution’s investments in multiple recycling projects and Tomra’s advanced sorting technologies takes us another step closer to developing closedloop solutions for styrenics.

Under the umbrella of Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS), Tomra1, a recognised leader in waste collection via deposit systems and sorting, has recently completed tests revealing that polystyrene (PS) is not only made for recycling, but also made for sorting.

With Tomra’s near-infrared (NIR) sensor technology, post-consumer plastic waste was sorted in a multi-step process including initial sorting from post consumer waste, grinding into smaller flakes, washing, drying and flake sorting. The resulting purity of polystyrene turned out to be
higher than 99.9%.

Jürgen Priesters, SVP, Circular Economy at Tomra, sees one reason for the good results is certain properties of the material: “Styrenic compounds have a unique signal that enable easy and very precise sorting, an advantage which some of the other polymers do not have.”

Tomra’s findings prove that today’s sorting technologies achieve a purity level beyond what is required to successfully recycle polystyrene through both mechanical as well as advanced recycling processes. Along with INEOS Styrolution’s investments in multiple recycling projects, this takes the company another step closer to developing closed-loop solutions for styrenics.

INEOS Styrolution continues along its path to build the best recycled ABS in the world2 and chemically recycled polystyrene at commercial scale3. The company is investing in multiple projects in Europe and in the Americas to set up recycling facilities based on the depolymerisation process.

“These findings on polystyrene sorting makes styrenics a material of choice for a circular economy and confirms our statement that styrenics are made for recycling like no other,” comments Sven Riechers, Vice President, Business Management, Standard Products EMEA at INEOS Styrolution.

About INEOS Styrolution

INEOS Styrolution is the leading global styrenics supplier, with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 85 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering the best possible solution, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, household, construction, healthcare, toys/sports/leisure, and packaging. In 2018, sales were at 5.4 billion euros. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,500 people and operates 20 production sites in ten countries.

More information: www.ineos-styrolution.com