The Use of Expanded Polystyrene Will Be Limited

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is widely used in mechanical equipment, instrumentation, household electrical appliances, handicrafts and other fragile products vulnerable to shock packaging materials and fast food packaging. However, after use, the waste of polystyrene foam has light weight, large volume, and has anti-aging, it is difficulty to corrosion, which as a major waste disposal problems. According to the latest news, about the restricted use of expanded polystyrene, the Canadian Plastics Industry Association San Francisco's expanded polystyrene restrictions and it will be extended to items such as foamed egg trays.

It is reported that San Francisco's goal is to become a "zero waste" of the city in 2020, and other US cities are also take actions, including the ban in court last year in New York, and from January 1,2017, to take food EPS ban in Washington.

The board of supervisors voted unanimously to introduce a ban on foamed polystyrene since 2017, which includes peanut packaging, coffee mugs, cooling systems, toys and marine buoys. From July 1, 2017, even the supermarket meat, fish and eggs boxes will be removed.

Much of this EPS is embedded in long-term use (such as waffle pods used in housing construction and engineering/manufacturing components), however, approximately 40% (or 18,000 tonnes p.a) is single-use or short-term packaging that can be recycled after use. We currently only recycle about 27% (or 4,900 tonnes p.a.) of this EPS packaging so there is plenty of opportunity to recycle more. So, we should try our best to take actions in polystyrene recycling. people can collect the waste polystyrene products and throw them into the specific recycling bins. Many cities have machines that can process these waste into renewable useful products.