Until yesterday I’d thought that polystyrene was impossible to get rid of, that it blocked up our refuse dumps and lasted for centuries.

A bit of searching on the Net, however, revealed that some companies have taken it upon themselves to overcome the problem. This is in no way intended as free advertising for these companies, though I do applaud their efforts. It’s more to let you know that there are some places in the world where one of the 20th century’s debatably most awful inventions can be disposed of and recycled.

Some examples

In Canada, the Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Association has been going since 1989, and today they’re so successful that each 15 minutes they recycle some 250,000 polystyrene coffee cups, 13,500 meat trays, and 4,500 take-out food containers.

They turn these otherwise useless items into such things as horticultural and dunnage trays, office sundries, and hardware and automotive accessories. And as the market increases for their products, no doubt there will be plenty of other innovative uses of polystyrene.

In New Zealand as well, there are now at least two companies handling polystyrene for recycling. One is called Bonder NZ, and has branches in four cities, and Trash Palace recycles polystyrene into underfloor insulation.

What is Polystyrene?

Polystyrene is produced from a liquid chemical building block known as styrene monomer. Pure styrene monomer is a clear, colourless liquid with a strong odour that is derived from petroleum and natural gas by-products. Styrene monomer is reacted together to form the solid, odourless plastic resin, polystyrene.

There are several different kinds of polystyrene each varying in strength.

1. General purpose polystyrene has little resistance to impact, but is malleable.
2. High impact polystyrene is the one we’re most familiar with, and is used to protect many more fragile items during transportation.
3. Expanded polystyrene is used for stronger items such as furniture, household and electronic equipment parts, insulation and the interiors of bicycle helmets.

Recycling Polystyrene

An increasing number of city and town councils are jumping on the bandwagon and encouraging their citizens to recycle polystyrene. (Not ours, unfortunately!) In time this may help us to make better use of this troublesome material.

What can you do to help? Talk to someone in authority at your local council. If they already have a recycling program, encourage them to include polystyrene as part of the program. If they don’t, gather information about recycling programs in other towns and cities, and present this to them to help them understand the necessity of clearing our refuse dumps of this material.

Big Business to the Fore

Some companies – such as Fisher and Paykel, a large whiteware producing company here in New Zealand – have taken it upon themselves to recycle materials they produce when they are no longer wanted. Fisher & Paykel can re-use or recycle around 75 percent of appliances by weight. This company processes around 25,000 used appliances annually. It recovers 1,600 tonnes of materials, including aluminium, stainless steel, copper, steel, plastics, packaging, electric cable, compressors, glass and circuit boards. Refrigerants are safely removed from freezers and refrigerators.

Packaging is the biggest source of recovered material — 75,000 pieces per year — and the single highest revenue earner for the take-back centre. Some packaging can

be used up to four times, so ensuring packaging is undamaged when appliances are delivered is crucial to the operation’s success.

You’ll understand by now that the packaging we’re talking about here will include polystyrene. It’s good to know that while governments and town councils debate the recycling issue, businesses are actually getting on and dealing with it.