Citeo, Total, Saint-Gobain and the French Union of Fresh Dairy Product Manufacturers (Syndifrais) are collaborating to help lay the groundwork for an industrial-scale polystyrene recycling channel in France and to validate its technical and cost feasibility within 18 months.
The project is part of the voluntary commitments for the French government’s Circular Economy Roadmap and in line with French and European Union objectives in plastic recycling.
It is estimated that 110,000 metric tons of polystyrene packaging is put on the market each year in France.
Via Citeo, France’s dairy product manufacturers have developed a collection system, to separate, sort and prepare several hundred tons of post-consumer polystyrene from France's extended household waste sorting program.
Syndifrais, alongside Citeo, will therefore contribute to the emergence of a recycling channel for polystyrene packaging and Syndifrais will also use the project's technical findings to improve the eco-design of packaging.
Total will use the sorted and prepared polystyrene in its plastic production units in Carling, France and Feluy, Belgium.
Saint-Gobain is involved in initiatives related to the circular economy and its subsidiary Placoplatre is aiming to promote the use of raw materials containing recycled content.