Is polystyrene recyclable?

If we at PolyShaper are the devil producing machines that fill the seas with styrofoam, I take it that users are goblins who are helping us to the purpose. We are sure that many of our users have happened to discuss with an environmentalist who points his finger against the creation of styrofoam decorations, accusing of being the accomplice of world pollution.

We have advertisements running on Facebook that we use to make our machines known to the world. Often and often our ads are attacked by environmentalists. An example of comment is: “Perfect! Now in addition to filling the seas with styrofoam, we can continue to do it but with beautiful shapes!”. Our company has a definite position on the subject: wise and conscious waste management of styrofoam must be done, especially because it is technically feasible.

Let’s make a small preamble. Polystyrene is the trade name for expanded polystyrene and it is a widely used thermoplastic material. The two types of panels that we often use are styrofoam and extruded polystyrene, so polystyrene can be heated and reused again almost indefinitely. The “almost” is related to the fact that with each reuse cycle polystyrene degrades a little, in fact recycled polystyrene is mixed with new one. We had the pleasure of visiting our suppliers of extruded polystyrene and found that all along the production line, where there was mechanical processing leading to the production of polystyrene residue, there was a vacuum system that transported these snippets to the end of the production line, where they are recycled, turned into pellets and brought back to the beginning of the line to re-enter the production process. Polystyrene is 100% recyclable!

On our community PolyShaper Italia many users has asked how to reuse waste polystyrene or where to throw it. We at PolyShaper have inquired with local municipal solid waste services, and, often, have found that styrofoam should be placed in the undifferentiated waste. The main reason for this aberration is the high transportation cost. The solution we propose is the use of a styrofoam compactor, whose finished product is well paid by companies that produce extruded and expanded polystyrene. PolyShaper gives away styrofoam production waste free of charge, knowing that it will be totally recycled.