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The recycling of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is not universally practised

Most local councils don’t offer it as a kerbside service and have been known to urge you to dispose of it in your bins ready for collection.

We receive enquiries from the general public on a regular basis, asking how they can dispose of their polystyrene waste sustainably as their local councils don’t offer this service. 

One of the main reasons councils tend to avoid recycling polystyrene is because it is made up of 98% air, very light but nevertheless bulky. This makes it difficult to collect as part of the fortnightly collections, it either takes up too much room in the collection bins or it is vulnerable to being blown away.

Many of the general public that we have spoken with would be prepared to travel to their local household recycling centre if they could dispose of their EPS sustainably.  Therefore, we are going to address the most common polystyrene recycling myths to urge more councils to take action!

Polystyrene isn’t recyclable

Commercially, polystyrene is used by many retailers of electrical and white goods and is already being recycled by many leading retailers. The industry would like to see wider recycling provision for this extremely important and valuable material, and some key producers are supporting work in this area (British Plastics Federation).

We have worked with various UK businesses for over 10 years, providing sustainable, cost-effective EPS compactors.  Thousands of tonnes of EPS have been recycled so far this year! 

Polystyrene recycling is expensive

Polystyrene in its expanded form is expensive to transport, this means that a full skip or lorry load of polystyrene would have very little weight, therefore the product becomes non-cost effective to recycle when it’s transported it’s a non compacted form.

Full loads of compacted polystyrene would typically have payloads of 15-20 tonnes when valued at up to £600 per tonne this certainly makes the product highly recyclable and valuable. 

We can’t work out the logistics

Greenbank is well established and experienced within the recycling of polystyrene, we have worked with many clients over the last twenty years. We are prepared to sit down with any council to work out the most cost-effective logistics method to make a profitable recycling venture.

Not enough quantity from households

The amount of polystyrene from households is increasing due to the amount of online shopping. Data suggests that from the 20,000 visits to household waste sites, this results in ½ a tonne of polystyrene (British Plastics Federation). This accumulates to the same volume of one rolling off container, on average this would cost approx £250 to handle. This same 500kg is also worth £300, making the actual difference in value £550 or £1,100 per tonne. This is a serious venture for councils. 

Why not discuss polystyrene compactors further with our experts? We have wide industry knowledge and are ready to help companies take the next steps towards recycling and additional revenue streams.

COVID-19 Impact

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, existing low levels of business investment have fallen, with a reduction of 11.6% between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020.

Much of the UK’s productivity gap with competitors is attributable to our historically low levels of business investment compared to our peers (Gov, 2021). In an announcement earlier this month, Chancellor, Rishi Sunak launched a new super deduction tax policy. From 1 April 2021 until 31 March 2023, companies investing in qualifying new plant and machinery assets will be able to claim:

• a 130% super-deduction capital allowance on qualifying plant and machinery investments
• a 50% first-year allowance for qualifying special rate assets

The super-deduction will allow companies to cut their tax bill by up to 25p for every £1 they invest. The super-deduction will also give companies a strong incentive to make additional investments and to bring planned investments forward.

As a result, these measures can promote economic growth and counter business cycles. The OBR has estimated that it will boost business investment by 10%; around £20 billion more per annum.

When will the super deduction tax policy end?

The relief will end before the higher rate of corporation tax comes in in March 2023.

Is now the right time to invest in a polystyrene compactor?

Are you missing out on an additional revenue stream? With the super deduction now in place, it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy and ensure it’s properly suited to your business needs.

Full loads of compacted polystyrene would typically have payloads of 15-20 tonnes when valued at up to £600 per tonne this certainly makes the product highly recyclable and valuable.

Key Benefits:

When you recycle polystyrene through the use of a polystyrene compactor, there a number of key benefits produced:

• Waste Reduction – Probably the most obvious solution. By carefully recycling polystyrene, the amount going to landfill and ending up in the sea is reduced; as long as this is done properly.
• Volume Reduction – Not only can some polystyrene compactors compact up to 220kg of polystyrene every hour, but the material is also reduced in size by around 95% every time.
• Carbon Footprint – The origins of polystyrene are in petroleum. Recycling not only reduces carbon footprint by extending the material’s lifecycle, it also puts less pressure on the limited resources available.
• Space Saving – Because polystyrene is reduced to around 5% of its original capacity, it takes up minimal space on site, which also potentially reduces trip or fall hazards in the workplace.
• Additional Revenue Stream – Because there’s a market ready and waiting for polystyrene blocks, this makes the perfect additional revenue stream for a business. You can read more about making money from your used polystyrene here.

How Can You Recycle Polystyrene Effectively?

First of all, you need to determine how much polystyrene your company uses on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. From here you can begin investigating polystyrene compactors.

These machines come with an abundance of benefits. By loading the waste material directly into the compactor, a large press force is applied in order to reduce the size of polystyrene. From here, compacted blocks are created in varying sizes, depending upon the machine model.

Compactors are very straightforward to operate, are low maintenance and can deal with both wet and dry polystyrene. Once you have enough bales these can be collected and paid for by a recycling company of your choice. Not only will you be reducing the carbon footprint of your company, you’ll be capitalising on an additional revenue stream.

If you’re interested in exploring the types of compactors that are available to you, download our polystyrene compactor brochure here.