ACH Foam Technologies Pushes for EPS Recycling Campaign

ACH Foam Technologies is asking its business partners and end-users to join in a collaborative EPS (expanded polystyrene) packaging recycling effort. ACH, a major EPS manufacturer, uses a closed loop manufacturing model in the production of its EPS products.

“We are working with the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers (AFPR) to ensure increased awareness and participation in the recycling of EPS packaging,” said ACH VP, Operations, Todd Huempfner. “All of our products are produced with nearly zero expanded polystyrene product waste,” explained Huempfner. “Water in the process is re-used over and over again. We either feed scrap EPS into our grinder to be recycled into new packaging and in many cases it becomes a green building construction product, or we apply heat and pressure to turn the EPS into a denser molded block. The densified blocks are then palletized and sent to a national reprocessing facility, where they are made into molded products such as baseboard trim, for example,” he explained.

ACH Foam manufactures recyclable EPS packaging for the pharmaceutical, electronic, food, and beverage industries in a closed-loop environment.

According to Huempfner, the “greenness” of EPS lies in the entire lifecycle of the product. “EPS uses less energy and resources to manufacture, transport and recover than comparable paper and coated paperboard products.  Basically, the only environmental footprint EPS leaves is un-recycled product. That means it’s up to end-users and corporate partners to participate in the recycling effort,” Huempfner added.

32 million pounds of post-consumer EPS were recycled in 2006, up from 25 million pounds in 2004. “We’re at 28% recycling in 2006 but that number needs to be much higher,” said Huempfner. 

The Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers releases recycling rates every 2 years; 2008  rates will be available in mid-2009.  There is a curbside program in Los Angeles for recycling clean polystyrene products.  No such program exists for coated paperboard products.

The manufacturing process for EPS is very clean, according to ACH. First, the original polystyrene beads are expanded with the use of steam. The pentane-loaded bead is exposed to pressurized steam that causes the polystyrene to expand and mold into the desired shape and density needed. Manufacturing EPS does not involve the use of ozone depleting CFCs or HCFCs. The final product is a moisture resistant closed-cell structure that is comprised of 98 percent air. Despite its light weight, this plastic can possess a compressive strength of up to 46 psi.

According to ACH, EPS is renowned for its superior performance properties, which make it one of the most efficient packaging and insulating materials. The use of EPS packaging is said to offset millions of gallons of gas and emissions (EPS weighs half as much as comparable coated paperboard products), and is the most protective of the products being shipped, which reduces waste due to breakage in transit. EPS also has superior insulating qualities which protect perishables during transit.

ACH Foam Technologies’ plants are drop-off facilities for smaller quantities of post-consumer EPS packaging from any clean (non-food contaminated) source.  ACH will refer consumers to the proper professional recycling facility when the quantities to be recycled surpass ACH’s capabilities. Those who don’t have access to a drop-off site are using different methods of recycling their EPS packaging, such as the mail-back program

Huempfner adds, “ACH and the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers can’t do this alone. The post-consumer recycling piece is the last piece in the puzzle of sustainability for EPS.   We’re doing our part by recycling 100-percent of the post-industrial scrap generated from the manufacturing process and providing our EPS recycling capabilities to businesses and consumers within our recycling capacities.  With the help of EPS packaging customers, distributors and end-users we can all further increase EPS recycling rates.”

Source: ACH Foam Technologies

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