A consortium of French agri-businesses plans to finance France’s first dedicated polystyrene recycling plant. Participating companies include Andros, Yoplait, Lactalis, LDC, and Bigard. The plant is set to recycle yoghurt pots and meat trays made from the mateiral.
The news comes after 18 months of deliberations by the companies involved. In 2020, they organised under a consortium named ‘PS25’ focused on creating alternatives to polystyrene and closing the loop on current polystyrene use.
These efforts of the PS25 will go some way to meeting President Macron’s goal of 100 recycled plastics by 2025 laid out under the Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy. Since the institution of this law, many food companies have feared a complete ban on polystyrene.
Polystyrene is currently a problem plastic in France. Although 110, 000 tonnes of the material are marketed, around 96 percent is either disposed of or incinerated. Only 4, 000- 5, 000 tonnes are recycled. This owes to the fact that France lacks major recycling plants dedicated to this plastic.
“This announcement is a signal sent to the market,” explains Antoine Robichon, deputy general manager of CITEO, a collection and sorting organization whose funding comes from contributions from businesses. “It’s a way of telling recyclers that they can work on polystyrene, both because the waste deposit is sufficient and also because they will find outlets to resell their materials once recycled. And this, even if the recycled material turns out to be more expensive than new at certain times.
It is possible that plans for the plant may falter and that this PS25 financing may be directed towards different initiatives. “A direct investment by the food industry in a recycling plant is possible, but it is not really planned, it would more likely be support for the financing of the purchase of soiled plastic by the ton and especially “a commitment on the resale price of recycled plastic,” says Sophie Genier, director for materials and recycling at CITEO, the French eco-organisation in charge of the management and recycling.
