How would you describe your company’s current approach to sustainability, and what recent actions have you taken to strengthen your role in the circular economy?
I would say that, at INEOS Styrolution, we view sustainability holistically. In that, we are committed to solving end-of-life issues for our products as well as reducing our overall impact on the planet.
From an end-of-life perspective, we are attacking these issues from multiple angles. INEOS Styrolution are one of two founding members of the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance (PSRA) which will formally launch in January of 2025. The goal of this trade group is to increase the recycling access and rates for Polystyrene in North America. We currently have 13 charter members and are actively recruiting more. The “north star” goal for this full-value-chain-alliance is for rigid and expanded Polystyrene to reach 60% recycling access, or “widely recyclable” status across all packaging formats.
The founding members of the PSRA commissioned a study of PS recycling access in early 2024 using Resource Recycling Systems, a highly credible 3rd-party organization who specializes in compiling recycling studies. The final report from RRS found that over 105 million Americans currently have access to recycle at least one PS item, or nearly 1/3 of the US population. This report also provided a roadmap for PS recycling access expansion over the next decade which is highly encouraging for the future of PS packaging recycling in North America. We are totally committed to this effort as PS is essential, recyclable, safe, and a low-carbon solution, and we aim to protect its use as a packaging material.
At INEOS Styrolution, we are also very active in expanding the use of Post-Consumer-Recycled (PCR) content within our own products. In the Americas specifically, we are a solutions company today. In that, we are developing PCR products that are drop-in solutions for our traditional product portfolio based on customer requests and specification requirements. We have successfully commercialized products, that include up to 30% PCR content blended with our traditional products portfolio. In fact, we are currently working on new projects that will include our PCR materials in applications involving major global brands who are also committed to the use of PS in packaging applications.
From an overall impact on the planet perspective, plastics such as the styrenics that INEOS Styrolution produce, are the best packaging solution from a GHG emissions prospective in over 90% of the applications reviewed by McKinsey and Company is a recent report. However, we are not satisfied with these current figures and the INEOS Group has made a pledge to save 1 million tons of CO2 equivalents by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. We are actively substituting bio-circular materials for traditional fossil-based feedstocks to reduce the amount of fossil fuels that need to be extracted to produce new virgin products. INEOS Styrolution have also been active in the transition to green energy globally, which should further reduce our carbon footprint.
What key sustainability milestones has your company achieved in the past few years? How have these millstones shaped your current practice?
At INEOS Styrolution, we have achieved many significant sustainability milestones over the past few years. Each of our production locations in the Americas have been certified by ISCC, which enables us to sell any of our current products with third party-certified Bio-Attributed or Bio-Circular content. Through this certification, we have commercialized one Bio-Circular project with a major customer of our ABS products that will purchase up to 110 million pounds of Bio-Circular content material globally in 2024.
As I mentioned previously, we have also commercialized several PCR-content PS and ABS products over the last few years. Consumers wrongly believe that our products are not recyclable, and we are committed to changing the hearts and minds of those consumers by proving the circularity of our products. We continue to be active in advocating for our materials to be added to Extended Producer Responsibility “must recycle” lists to ensure the expansion of recycling access and rates of our products. The formation of the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance (PSRA) is another key industry effort that was established to continue to grow the recycling access and rates of our products.
From your perspective, what have been the most impactful advancements in recycling technologies and bio-based packaging solutions recently?
Pyrolysis has been around for about 40 years, but recent advancements in the technology, driven by significant industry investment, have me genuinely excited about the future of recycling. Over the past eight to ten years, we've witnessed remarkable progress in new recycling methods and technologies. The potential for these innovations to scale and establish a thriving advanced recycling ecosystem is incredibly inspiring.
I know that these processes work, as I have seen them work. As the capacity for these technologies scale, it will allow for the expansion of recycling access and rates for those materials that are now considered “hard to recycle,” such as flexible films, small format items, and even Polystyrene (both rigid and EPS) packaging. These recycling technologies all require hydro-carbon feedstocks, so PE, PP, and PS to operate efficiently. It is my view that these Advanced Recycling operations will allow Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to extract more value from their current end-of-line mixed plastic bales by creating a “Pyro Pack.” In this scenario, mixed bales of PE, PP, and PS materials could be sold directly to local Advanced Recycling facilities which would allow the MRF to use existing assets to generate a higher return.
Which emerging market opportunities do you see as most promising for your company, particularly in the context of sustainable packaging?
Direct food contact applications using Bio-Circular or Bio-Based feedstocks could be a large area of growth over the next decade. One of the biggest issues for many brands and packaging companies is the lack of availability of PCR-content material that has been FDA approved. Letters of Non-Objection (LONO) from the FDA are required for direct- food-contact applications and there are precious few PCR extruders that have this designation outside of the PET market. There are applications that are not ideal for PET, so that makes sourcing food-contact PCR materials difficult. LONO applications are at an all-time high, but there is also a backlog at the FDA to approve these applications.
The FDA has confirmed that polystyrene is safe for use in contact with food applications, a conclusion echoed by the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority, and other regulatory agencies. This approval also extends to advanced recycled polystyrene.
Polystyrene is among the most easily sortable plastics, featuring unique signaling properties that enable highly efficient and precise sorting. This capability allows for purity levels that exceed the standards required by both conventional and advanced recycling processes. Tests have shown that post-consumer polystyrene waste, including polystyrene foam, can be optically sorted for recycling with an outstanding purity rate of over 99.9%.
As companies prepare to comply with the regulations of CA SB54 (California’s version of Extended Producer Responsibility legislation), they are finding it difficult to source PCR content for their food-contact applications. Advanced Recycling would be an ideal solution for this issue, but the regulations, as currently defined, does not allow for materials produced by these technologies to be considered as recycled content. I could not disagree with these regulations more vociferously, but this is the current reality, so that is where Bio-Based or Bio-Circular products may become a viable alternative. These products maintain all the same regulatory approvals as the fossil-based alternatives, as they are chemically and physically identical. This will allow for lower-carbon alternatives to current products, but it remains to be seen how California and CalRecycle will consider these materials as regulations are not clear on this topic today.
What are the primary drivers for change in your industry, and how has the demand for greater sustainability and circularity influenced your production processes and strategies?
Consumer sentiment has been the largest driver for change in the plastics industry. Plastics, such as the styrenics that INEOS Styrolution produce, have been unfairly maligned over the past decade due to misinformation and emotional argumentation from vocal anti-plastic NGOs.
It is apparent that it is possible to change these perceptions; just look at paper as an example. Not long ago, consumers were pushing companies to deselect paper due to concerns about acidification of the oceans and deforestation. Paper today is seen as the most sustainable material in many consumer surveys due to strong industry efforts to increase paper recycling.
We can do the same for plastics, but it will require industry collaboration and public/private partnerships. We need to prove that the recycling of plastics works at scale, and the only way to do that is to continue to increase PCR content in our products.
This is also not a short-term trend. I believe that PCR-content inclusion will be the key to our industry’s health well into the future.
As we aim to stay informed on the latest trends shaping your sector of the packaging industry, what recent developments or shifts do you believe are most significant?
INEOS Styrolution is more packaging market adjacent, as we are a polymer producer and not active directly in the packaging space. However, the shift from plastic to paper, glass, or metal packaging materials has been a major shift in this space that has had a material impact on our business.
Moving from plastics to alternative materials seems like a wise decision from a sustainability perspective, but upon further scientific inspection, this will lead to a significant increase in materials consumed to create those packages, material shipped to landfills at end-of-life, increase in GHG emissions in the manufacture of these new packages, and an overall increase of fuel consumption to move these heavier products throughout their life cycle. It is not my intention to bash alternative materials even though they are happy to attack plastics publicly. I use these competing materials in my personal life as there are applications where they are better suited than plastics. I just would appreciate a balanced discussion on the overall impact of all packaging materials.
Could you provide an overview of your product portfolio, highlighting the sustainability features and certifications of your key products?
INEOS Styrolution ECO materials are our family of sustainable styrenics materials made from recycled post-consumer plastic waste as well as materials based on renewable feedstock.
All our manufacturing sites in North America have received ISCC Plus Certification. This certification supports the use of advanced recycling technology and bio-attributed feedstocks to produce recycled polystyrene and other styrenic products. Recycled or bio-attributed products certified by the ISCC PLUS standard, use a mass balance approach to track the amount of sustainability characteristics of circular and/or bio-attributed content within materials. This approach provides companies, brand owners and consumers with the assurance that high sustainability requirements are met when they see ISCC PLUS certified materials.
All our products can be produced using Bio-Circular or Bio-Attributed materials and many can be produced with PCR content in the Americas.
Are there any upcoming product launches of innovations that you are particularly excited about? If so, what sustainability aspects will they feature?
I teased the major Polystyrene PCR project that we hope to announce soon. There are several other in the pipeline that I am also excited about. We are committed to increasing recycling access and rates for our products in the Americas, so we will continue to expand the inclusion of PCR content in all our materials. Sustainability is a key to the success of our business going forward and it will continue to be a focus for INEOS Styrolution.
One final note, that I think is important to repeat: PS is recyclable, it is an essential product for packaging as well as other applications, it is safe (FDA approved), as well as a low carbon solution.
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