Humanity is grappling with climate change and its ill effects. At SPL we believe in adopting sustainable practices like using gases with low ozone depleting potential as blowing agents for XPS boards and providing a state-of-the-art Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plant at our factories.
Two of our products Expandable Polystyrene (EPS) resin and Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) boards are key elements of building insulation reducing energy consumption and consequently CO2 emission.
Recycling of Post-Consumer Expandable Polystyrene (PC EPS)
Over its lifecycle EPS saves more energy than what is consumed in its manufacture which helps in reducing carbon footprint. Two major applications of EPS are in building insulation and packaging of fragile items for transportation.
EPS packaging protects fragile applications etc during transportation from breakage. This results in material conservation and thereby reduce CO2 emission. As EPS is voluminous in nature its collection becomes a challenge. Therefore, the best option for supporting sustainable development of EPS business is to create awareness about its collection and recyclability.
Overall, about 60 – 70,000 MT of EPS packaging is discarded in India which needs to be collected & recycled back to useful products. Post Consumer EPS waste is recycled to Polystyrene to a large extent already in our country. However, such activities are done by unorganised micro recyclers and hence not properly documented. The sustainability Dept. of Supreme Petrochem Ltd started survey
of players across India with the objective of enumerating them & create an AllIndia register of players in this field, since 2019. SPL is working with several NGOs to improve on the collection mechanism as well as in documenting recyclers involved and helping them get themselves registered with state/ central pollution control boards.
So far 17 States have been covered. 136 recyclers have been identified; about
800 EPS melters are installed across the country. Their locations, ownership,
contact details etc have been collected. As of now, we assess about 40,000
MT/year of EPS waste are collected & recycled. Once survey of remaining States are completed, we expect the total quantity of EPS recycled to be more than 50,000 MT/year.
SPL has been creating awareness about handling and recycling of EPS waste
thereby demonstrating viability of EPS recycling. We have been liaising with local bodies and municipalities to get access to their waste disposal facilities for EPS recovery. We have also partnered with leading white goods retailers to ensure PC EPS waste is properly collected and recycled from their customers.
SPL joined hands with ICPE (Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment) to work with NGOs, in bringing players in unorganised sector into mainstream organised sector across the country
Recycled EPS is used in various applications like photo frames, hangers,
synthetic wood and light weight concrete. SPL is working in cities across India for PC EPS collection and recycling and we have plans to expand the reach to other cities.
EPS is recycled in different parts of the world, to know more visit the below links.
EPS Industry Alliance – EPS Industry Alliance
European EPS Industry – Home – Eumeps Corporate – The voice of the European EPS industry
Australian EPS Association – Home – Expanded Polystyrene Australia
Supreme Petrochem Ltd (SPL) has been promoted jointly by The Supreme Industries Ltd, and the established, highly diversified Rajan Raheja Group.