Garbage is a misplaced resource, Nitze--We have a magic wand that can turn waste into treasure

From home appliance packaging to interior ceiling decoration to your car seat, styrofoam has penetrated every aspect of your life.

However, in recent years it has caused a lot of environmental trouble and attracted the attention of governments, such as New York and other cities issued a ban on the use of EPS tableware and other bans last year.

Hazards of Expanded Polystyrene(EPS) Scrap:

Due to their large size, these wastes will take up considerable space for disposal at landfills. In addition, because of its lightweight, it is easily blown away by the wind, scattered on streets and water bodies, and clogs storm drains. Because it is non-compostable and largely non-biodegradable, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years for EPS to decompose.

EPS and other foam plastic are often wrongly put together as unsuitable for recycling. In fact, EPS is 100% recyclable for its 98% air and non-toxic. However, the annual average recovery rate of EPS is only 30 %, and more than tens of millions of tons of EPS scraps are wasted each year.

Difficulties of Recycling Expanded Polystyrene(EPS) Scrap:

1. Did not sort the waste.

EPS Is often mixed with other hard-to-degrade foam plastics, so it often ends up in landfills or incinerated along with others.

2. Expansive transportation costs. 

A 48-foot truckload of loose EPS products weighs only around 1,000 pounds, significantly increasing transportation, handling and processing costs. Therefore, we need to pretreat the EPS scrap at first, compactor or hot melt to compress the volume of EPS before transportation.

3. Linked to the price of oil. 

EPS is a by-product of grease. The value of this material increases when the price of oil is high. When the price of oil falls, so does the price of this material.

These problems lead to the cost and difficulty of recycling EPS waste. In the EPS factory I visited, EPS scrap or defective products were piled up in the corner of the warehouse, which not only increased the already difficult storage problems but also increased the security risks. Most importantly, the hidden economic benefits have also been overlooked.

Four Major Ways for Recycling Expanded Polystyrene(EPS) Scrap:

1.The traditional method of burning or burying.

It is obvious that this will bring great pollution and harm to the environment. Last year, some countries like China no longer continue to import waste, the cost of these ways will further increase. The net cost of burying EPS is as much as $2,500 a tonne, according to New South Wales.

2.Mechanical Recycling. It can be divided into simple regeneration and compound regeneration.

The simple regeneration is mainly used for a scrap of the production plant, and also includes the disposable waste which is easy to clean and recover. The composition is relatively simple and clean, and the regenerated material can be used alone or mixed in a certain proportion with the new material The production practice has proved that the content of crushed particles can be between 10% and 25% , that is to say, the raw material can be saved 10% to 25 %, on the premise that the product performance can meet the National Standard Gbl0801-2002.

The compound regeneration is mainly used for collection through different channels after the circulation and consumption of commodities. It is characterized by more impurities, more serious dirt and difficulty in recovery, and requires higher recovery technology and High-efficiency Equipment Mainly including collection, volume reduction crushing, cleaning, sorting, granulation and so on.

3.Regranulation.

EPS scrap can be crushed, heated and melted, cooled, granulated and so on, and finally regenerated into PS, XPS and other materials. At present, the widely used EPS pelletizing production line can achieve full automatic production. It is very simple and convenient to operate, some powerful factories can directly use it to recycle EPS scrap, thus avoiding expensive transportation costs.

4.Compactor or hot melt.

Some small and medium-sized factories, taking into account factors such as machine cost, use EPS presses or EPS hot-melt machines to cold-press or hot-melt EPS scrap, and then sell the resulting blocks or lumps to companies specializing in EPS recycling In this way, the volume of EPS waste can be reduced greatly, the transportation cost can be reduced, and some economic benefits can be created.

In addition, EPS crushing materials can be mixed with concrete to make EPS light concrete, cement polystyrene board, EPS Foam Hollow Brick and EPS light roof insulation board, etc. It can also produce rust-resistant paint, manufacture multi-functional resin glue, manufacture anti-seepage and leakproof agent, and be used as asphalt reinforcing agent.

Benefits of Recycling Expanded Polystyrene(EPS) Scrap:

- For the environment:

· EPS provides a major contribution to energy saving and the reduction of CO2 gas emissions;

· It helps save fossil fuels;

· EPS produces no harmful residues during incineration;

· It is groundwater neutral;

· It contains no binding agents.

- For us:

· It solves the difficult problem of storage;

· Reusing EPS reduces the production cost to a certain extent;

· EPS waste can be pretreated and resold to other pelletizing plants for making a profit;

· The reclaimed materials can be used to produce other products, such as CD boxes, photo frames and so on.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the global EPS recycling market is growing rapidly, especially in today's attention to environmental protection.

The cost of setting up an EPS recycling line is much lower than that of an ordinary factory. Raw materials are easy to collect. And you only need a granulator to regranulation. Or you can pretreat it with a compactor or hot melting machine and resell to other factories, which can also bring in money quickly and generate much more profits.

Today, EPS is widely used and a large number of waste EPS are discarded in the landfill, the raw material is not to worry about.

And in some areas, the governments have also established preferential policies for such recycling plants.

Therefore, the market prospect of EPS recycling industry is very considerable, which will be discussed in the future, so please follow us.

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