Trinseo and Fernholz to jointly develop high-quality recycled polystyrene

Trinseo has announced the initiation of a joint development project with Fernholz, a leading manufacturer of plastics packaging, to develop a high-quality polystyrene product made from 35 per cent recycled material through a chemical recycling dissolution process.

The collaboration is expected to have commercial viability by mid-year 2020.

At K 2019, Trinseo announced plans to offer PS packaging with an average of 30 per cent recycled content to customers in Europe by 2025, and the partnership with Fernholz is a key milestone in progressing closer to this pledge.

Nicolas Joly, Global Business Director for Polystyrene and Feedstocks at Trinseo, said: “This project with Fernholz highlights that partnership along the value chain is key to showing polystyrene’s position as a highly sustainable, fully recyclable material for every end market.”

Uwe Fernholz, Managing Director and Owner of Fernholz, said: “Polystyrene is, for us, a key plastic material and the state of the art product the FFS market, which is highly used in the dairy industry.”

“We do see a great potential not only for this traditional FFS market but a rebound to other markets if we can prove the specific advantages of polystyrene in regard to recycling. We are delighted to support this project and emphasise customers to do similar.”