Posts tagged with reuse

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May 13, 2012

EPS Is Friendly To The Environment

Environmentally Friendly

The excellent properties of EPS, providing economic and high performance products, are further enhanced by its environmentally friendly characteristics. By most methods of measurement, EPS has a positive contribution to the environment at every stage of its life cycle.

From raw material production, to processing into useable products, to the daily use of those products, to disposal or recycling EPS uses less energy, saves more energy, or has fewer emissions and creates less environmental impact on disposal than most competitive materials.

Objective, scientific studies have demonstrated the benefits to the environment of using EPS in preference to other materials. The manufacture of disposable drinking cups demonstrates dramatically the resource and energy efficiency of EPS. Compared with EPS cups of the same size, paper cups consume:

• 170 times as much process water
• 30 per cent more cooling water
• 15 times more chemicals
• 13 times more electricity
• 6 times as much steam

Because of its light weight, on a equal volume basis EPS is only one sixth of the weight of cardboard.

Compared to EPS, other packaging materials such as wood, corrugated cardboard and paper weigh on average six and a half times as much, require twice as much energy to produce and result in two thirds more waste by volume.

Reduced Effects on Atmosphere

In terms of global warming, EPS plays a positive role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Domestic and industrial consumption of fossil fuels for heating is recognised as a significant contributor to the global output of carbon dioxide. It has been estimated that the effective application of EPS insulation could cut carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50%.

As the insulation performance of EPS does not deteriorate during its lifetime, this reduction in emissions lasts the full lifetime of a building. The manufacture of EPS raw material and processing into useable products does not require the use of CFCs or HCFCs.

Minimises Waste on Disposal

EPS accounts for less than a tenth of one percent of the weight of municipal waste. The foam scrap improves the aeration of landfills and thus contributes to a faster degradation of the organic substances.

EPS products do not degrade into harmful substances, are not water soluble and do not give off any water soluble substances which could lead to contamination of ground water.

 

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February 5, 2012

Case Study: EPS reuse in Barwon

The Barwon Regional Waste Management Group in Victoria’s southwest has taken advantage of a unique recycling process to reduce with its expanded polystyrene waste (EPS).

Enzo Bruscella, executive officer of Barwon Regional Waste Management Group said that EPS was a uniquely challenging waste stream. “EPS is very lightweight, bulky and this makes it difficult to recycle. It causes big problems for landfill operators.”

In order to deal with the problem the group teamed up with two local businesses. Geelong Disabled People Industries provided pickup, a collection point and shredding of the EPS.  Once it was processed they passed it along to Newtown Concrete Products – who used it as an aggregate to when making concrete pavers.

John Armstrong, the proprietor of Newtown Concrete Products said that the EPS blended concrete pavers were a superior product to standard pavers. “We used to lose 15% on breakages, now we’re down to 1%,” he said. “When we sell it to the stores they love it because one bloke can lift it instead of two blokes.”

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November 1, 2010

Reuse of EPS through Three Recycling Processes

I.  Material recycling

To recycle into raw materials to make plastic products.

II. Chemical recycling (material recycling in a broad sense)

To decompose back to raw chemicals (gas or oil) by heat and pressure and reuse as fuel, etc.

III. Thermal recycling

To recycle by production of heat energy by combustion and reuse for power generation, etc.