Sources of EPS Waste
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is used mainly in food packaging but also in the packaging of electrical devices.
In more detail, you can collect EPS from :
- Fish boxes that come from the Fish Industry
- Packaging of electrical devices
- Fish boxes that come from public markets and fish shops
Forms of EPS Processed Waste
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) waste, such as fish boxes, is characterized as a light foam material with a significantly low specific weight (kg/m^3), which makes its handling and transportation difficult.
For that reason, the fish boxes, the big or small pieces of EPS that are found need to be mechanically processed in order to increase their specific weight. The mechanical processing should only follow the collection and careful selection of the EPS waste, removing any foreign element (stickers, tags, paper, other plastics, dirt etc)
Fibrorecycling can process EPS in the following forms :
EPS Briquettes
Briquettes can be formed through compression of EPS material using cold compactors, achieving compaction ratio of 50:1.
Ingots – Melted EPS
Ingots can be created by heating and eventually melting the EPS material using hot melters. The melted EPS exits the machine in a hot – soft form, but after a while its temperature drops and it becomes hard solid.
EPS Balls
Balls are created also by mechanical compaction using Ball Compactors (different than the briquette , that are suited for the process of several plastics.