Trinseo | Unlocking Circularity – Infinitely Recyclable Food Packaging Is a Reality
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February 16, 2021

Unlocking Circularity – Infinitely Recyclable Food Packaging Is a Reality

Plastic food packaging is part of our daily life, especially during the pandemic when many people rely on food delivery or takeaway. It has always been a presumption that plastic food packaging is not environmentally friendly.

Circular Economy

Circular economy is a shared goal among consumers, manufacturers, brand owners, material and product designers, and essentially everyone in society. As a material expert, Trinseo is taking on the responsibility of sustainable material design, chemical recycling, and working with the entire styrenics value chain to make food packaging infinitely recyclable.

coffee cup on sidewalk

Unlocking Circularity - Chemical Recycling

Polystyrene is a very common food packaging material that is used to make yogurt cups, frozen meat foam trays, take-away coffee cup lids and other applications. It is durable, hygienic, non-porous, easy to process, economical and low density, which means less plastic material is required to produce a product with similar applications. And most importantly, it is an excellent material for chemical recycling, as its chemical property is extremely simple.

Through chemical recycling, polystyrene waste can be recycled back to styrene monomer. The concept is similar to when ice melts to become water, and water freezes to become ice again. Too good to be true? No, Polystyrene (PS) is one of the very few plastics that can be recycled infinitely.

sorting machine

Concerted Efforts

To make food packaging infinitely recyclable, the entire styrenics value chain has to work together. From polystyrene waste collection, sorting and recycling, to disposal behavior, proper systems and the involvement of different partners are all required to achieve this goal. Fortunately, the styrenics value chain is doing just this: working together to make food packaging infinitely recyclable, and Trinseo excited to play an integral role. Learn more by downloading a brochure.

Trinseo will soon participate in two events focused on plastics recycling:

Chemically Recycled Plastics for Food Contact

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Julien Renvoise will present at the Chemically Recycled Plastics for Food Contact event organized by the Center of Management Technology on 9 March 2021 | 1500 CET (GMT +1).

 

Go Circular - Transitioning the Chemical Industry Toward a Circular Future

event advertisement

The Go Circular virtual summit that's being help on March 10-11, 2021 will be 100% online. It is a two days conference, and all presentations will be LIVE. Julien Renvoise will also be speaking on the first day of this event.

Those who register to attend will gain access to business networking tools, participate in the open round table discussions, take part in the start-ups contest, be able to visit the virtual expo area and have the ability to schedule meetings with other event attendees. Go Circular will be a highly interactive summit with Q&A and numerous networking opportunities.