EPS collective urges Plastics Treaty negotiators to make environmental materials comparisons

The Global EPS Sustainability Alliance (GESA) has defended what it calls the ‘essential role’ of expanded polystyrene (EPS), and it urging Global Plastics Treaty negotiators to consider material science, packaging science, and material comparisons when devising policies.

International delegates are meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, this week for the third of five rounds of discussions geared towards developing a legally-binding Global Plastics Treaty. GESA has also sent a delegation, who will observe proceedings.

GESA spokespersons Betsy Bowers, Executive Director of EPS Industry Alliance (EPS-IA) and Chresten Heide-Anderson, Project Manager at The Danish EPS Association (EPS-branchen) and Vice President of European Manufacturers of Expanded Polystyrene (EUMEPS) issued the following joint statement: 

“The treaty is an important opportunity to address plastic pollution from a clean-slate perspective and to take a novel approach to problem solving; however, ambitious goals must be balanced with the reality of implementation challenges. Packaging science and environmental science have important roles to play to ensure net-negative environmental impacts don’t occur.

“The EPS industry recommends the treaty adopt and implement the use of Packaging Product Category Rules that would facilitate the development of Environmental Product Declarations. This approach would expand material comparisons to include energy consumption, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicity and human health impacts.

“EPS packaging plays an important role in global distribution of essential goods, and we hope to see the treaty deliver new solutions and to harmonise policies that we see are already working. Environmental Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a tried-and-true policy tool that could achieve faster and more efficient implementation with the help of a harmonised international oversight.

“There is great promise that the United Nations member state negotiators will be able to consider policy solutions with careful deliberation and reason. They have a challenging task at hand and GESA is hoping to be an asset to the dialogue.”

EPS is currently used in packaging, construction, transportation, manufacturing, automotive, and food service. It is especially important for transporting food and vital medicines/vaccines, including to remote areas. It has protective properties that allow essential goods to be distributed to communities around the world without spoiling.

GESA says that there are common misperceptions about the recyclability of EPS. Recently, several resin providers announced their development of proprietary formulas to help fabricators incorporate at least 30% recycled content in the manufacture of many applications, following a collective EPS industry investment of $185M.