Styrenics Circular Solutions Contributes to the First Phase of the Circular Plastics Alliance

BRUSSELS, April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS), the joint industry initiative to increase the circularity of styrenic polymers, has participated in the first round of working meetings of the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA) upon invitation by the European Commission.

The European Commission launched the CPA to promote value chain cooperation with the aim to ensure that 10 million tons of recycled plastics are used in new products by 2025. Alongside other key stakeholders from the plastics value chains, SCS participated in the first CPA meeting at the European Industry Days on 5 February 2019 and contributed to all five of the CPA Working Groups.

At the first CPA meeting, Kevin McQuade, Chief Executive Officer of SCS member INEOS Styrolution, explained SCS' ambitions to achieve circularity by referring to its voluntary pledge and roadmap: "From yoghurt pot to yoghurt pot again, SCS is working to make styrenics truly circular for use in food contact applications. We are pioneering recycling technologies, including chemical recycling back to the monomer, to make this a reality."

At the working group meeting 'Collection and sorting of plastic waste', Herman Van Roost, SCS Chair for Waste Collection and Sorting and Business Development Manager – Polymers, at SCS member TOTAL Refining and Petrochemicals, commented: "800kt of PS is placed into the EU packaging market every year. SCS engages with the value chain, in particular waste sector partners, to pull polystyrene waste for large scale recycling from incineration and landfilling."

Speaking at the meeting, 'R&D and Investments including Chemical Recycling', Rob Slangen, SCS Technologies and Plastics and Feedstock Technology Leader at SCS member Trinseo, said: "SCS reconfirmed its commitment to have a chemical recycling demo plant in place by 2020 to meet the EU recycling targets."

At the meeting regarding 'Recycled plastic content in products, Jens Kathmann, Secretary General SCS, confirmed: "SCS shares the goal of increasing the use of recycled plastics. To that end, we are developing solutions, incl. depolymerisation, to bring high-quality, even food grade, recycled PS on the market to meet already existing demand."

Representing SCS at the session "Product design for recycling", Arkadiusz Haras, SCS Communications & Advocacy and Strategic Marketing Director at SCS member Synthos, stated: "SCS supports the ambition of the European Commission to make products more sustainable in the Circular Economy, including by designing plastic products for recycling. For that purpose, freedom of choice within the value chain of the most suitable polymer should be maintained."

The first phase of CPA's work group meetings concluded on 10 April with 'Monitoring of recycled plastics sold in the EU'. Attending the session, Jens Kathmann said: "SCS looks forward to making our progress towards true circularity transparent. Certification of our PS recycling activities will be the first step to a credible monitoring system across the entire styrenics value chain". He concluded: "The first phase of this process has been very promising and we are pleased that SCS could make a contribution to the discussion of the complex issues that we will continue to tackle with our dialogue partners, especially given the important role that the highly recyclable polystyrene can play in supporting the EU recycling targets, while meeting the demands of all the sectors that use our materials, including in food packaging. We are looking forward to the second phase of CPA working meetings and to contributing to its outcome." 

About Styrenics Circular Solutions

Styrenics Circular Solutions is a joint industry initiative to increase the circularity of styrenics. The initiative engages the entire value chain in the development and industrialisation of new recycling technologies and solutions. It aims to strengthen the sustainability of styrenic products while improving resource efficiency within the Circular Economy.