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Recycling Information

About EPS

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is not a toxic material. It has a simple chemical make up consisting of the same elements found in wood and other organic materials - Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. EPS is comprised of approximately 98% air.

Manufacturing EPS uses little energy and creates little pollution.
No chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), which are harmful to the environment and Ozone layer, are used in its manufacture (unlike Extruded Polystyrene).

Other packaging materials (eg. wood, corrugated cardboard and paper), on average weigh 6½ times more than EPS, require twice as much energy to produce and result in two thirds more waste by volume.

EPS is 100% recyclable through various means. It can be ground up and re-incorporated into new EPS products or thermally processed to make a resin used in the re-manufacture of new polystyrene products.

Some of the products made from recycled EPS are: Packaging; insulation of flat/pitched roofs; floors and cavity-type walls; replacement hardwood furniture; CD/Video/DVD cases; pens; coat-hangers and cassette tapes; lightweight in-fill for road and railway construction; children's car seats and cycling helmets; seedling trays and soil conditioner to promote aeration.

EPS does not biodegrade, but it is benign to the environment and can therefore provide a stable “fill material” (similar to earth, rock or concrete). It can be used for safe landfill reclamation in public or greenbelt spaces. Being non-biodegradable, EPS does not break down into harmful substances, is not water-soluble and does not give off any water-soluble substances. Thus, there is no contamination threat to groundwater.

As EPS has a chemical make-up of carbon and hydrogen, when completely combusted, it only gives off water vapour, carbon dioxide and trace levels of ash (the same as paper).