A new recycling initiative will divert more than 200 tonnes of polystyrene from greater Dublin landfills in the next 12 months, according to service providers Rehab Recycle.
The equivalent of 300 40-foot containers of expanded polystyrene (EPS) will be reduced to 2 per cent of its original volume at Rehab Recycle in Navan, Co Meath, then shipped for re-use in the manufacture of items like CD and DVD cases, clothes hangers, stationery and garden furniture.
The company estimates that customers can save up to 40 per cent on waste disposal rates by using EPS recycling.
"EPS is made up of 98 per cent air and 2 per cent plastic and thus has a high volume/low weight ratio, so even a small quantity can rapidly fill a bin or a skip," said Rehab Group director of enterprise Michael Horgan. "As a result, each bin lift or skip movement becomes very expensive in the context of its low weight."
Otherwise known as styrofoam or aeroboard, EPS is used primarily for packing electronic equipment. At present, few options exist for its disposal, as EPS is not accepted in green bin schemes.
At the launch, Minister for the Environment John Gormley lauded Ireland's progress in recycling over the past 10 years, noting recovery rates for glass, paper and metal have essentially quadrupled.
But, he added, polystyrene was "a material people may have found hard to recycle". "Polystyrene is light and bulky and this new initiative . . . will have a major impact on recovery rates on a national level," he said.