Styromelt

Polystyrene – The Problem

Polystyrene is an excellent packaging material due to its insulating and protective properties. Unfortunately, once goods are delivered and opened polystyrene then becomes a waste material that companies must pay to dispose of. Large, bulky pieces of polystyrene can take up significant space in a waste skip which means the skip becomes full more quickly and therefore needs to be emptied more often – therefore more cost.

Size Savings

It is conservatively estimated that hundreds of thousands of tons of waste polystyrene is produced and sent to landfill on an annual basis in the UK alone. This material is very lightweight compared to its volume so it is not hard to imagine how much precious landfill space is filled with tons and tons of polystyrene.

Disposing of Polystyrene has the following drawbacks:

  • Boxes and packaging can take up large volumes of storage space prior to removal.
  • Fish/Meat packaging is contaminated with blood, fluids etc and so can be a health hazard and attract vermin when in storage prior to removal.
  • Skip hire or running costs of disposal lorries are very high.
  • Because boxes and packaging take up a lot of space transport lorries or skips are filled very quickly.
  • High landfill charges make disposal expensive and bad for the environment

The Styromelt™ drastically reduces the volume of waste polystyrene by thermal densification.


Styromelt™ – The Solution

The Styromelt machine from Purex essentially melts polystyrene to form a dense block of material that is reduced in volume by over 95% of the original material. So a 2 cubic metre load of polystyrene comes out of the machine as a small block approximately 90cm x 25cm x 5cm. The block can be stored then sold to recycling companies who then turn it into fuels such as diesel or new products such as garden furniture.

The densified blocks are sterile, easy to handle and can be stored indefinitely. This means that several loads can be put through the machine over time until sufficient quantities have been produced for either sale or disposal.

There is an emerging market for blocks for incineration, recycling and for the production of fuels. The Recycling value of blocks is based on oil price and is currently £80- £170 per tonne based on volume.

Further benefits are:

  • Processed blocks are recyclable as product or fuel and can actually be sold to recyclers.
  • Greater compaction rate – up to 10 times greater than hydraulic compaction.
  • In-situ sterilisation of plastic material means the product can be stored indefinately.
  • Ability to deal with contaminants such as blood, organic matter, metal, stone and glass without damage or failure.
  • Thermal compaction is a batch process and incurs no energy costs until the machine is full. The machine could be described as an ‘electric skip’.
  • Process is virtually silent running.
  • Machinery can be operated with very few skills.
  • Machinery occupies a small footprint, ideally suited for retrofitting in supermarket or municipal areas.
  • The machine is weather proofed for outside use and is IP56 rated.

Styromelt Thermal Compactor

Market Applications:

  • Local Authorities
  • Fisheries Industry
  • Retail
  • Sports Stadiums
  • Fast Food Industry
  • Recycling Industry
  • Cruise / Ferry Industry
  • Smoke Houses
  • Manufacturers
  • Hospitals
  • Arenas
  • Electronics Companies
  • Waste Management

Thermal Compaction

The Styromelt™ machine is the safe, simple and economical solution to the thermal compaction of polystyrene waste to achieve large savings in transport and waste disposal costs.

Problems disposing of Polystyrene

The disposal of polystyrene waste is a major problem for many sectors of industry because the volume to weight ratio of the material is unfavourable for economic transportation after use. In many applications polystyrene is the best packaging material to use as it can reduce the risk of damage to expensive electronic items and can preserve and protect food such as fish far better than many alternative packaging materials. Despite the suitability of polystyrene for a wide variety of applications, organisations are faced with the growing problem of finding alternative methods of disposing of large volumes of waste packaging.

Styromelt is a new and viable method of treating this complex waste stream while saving money.

What Styromelt™ Does

The Styromelt™ is specially designed for applications where traditional hydraulic compaction is not economical or practical or where lingering odours and contaminants are present in the polystyrene (e.g. organic matter from fish / meat). The thermal compaction process can achieve a volumetric reduction of waste of up to 95% to dramatically reduce waste storage and traffic.

The Styromelt™ machine simply reverses the manufacturing process of the material to be compacted by applying conducted heat to the polymer to convert it into a liquid resin that is cooled into a briquette. The Styromelt™ does not employ blades or dangerous moving parts and is virtually silent running. The machine can deal with contaminated waste such as meat and fish boxes and the resultant volume reduced briquette is completely sterile.

Operation

The operation of the machine is simple and restricted to switching the machine on/off and removing cooled briquettes. The ergonomics of the machine eliminate the possibility of the machine operator touching hot surfaces and the door is electronically timer interlocked to restrict access only when the material is safe to handle.

Air is filtered to remove odour via a high performance Labyrinth™ pre-filter and a specialist blended carbon main filter.

Cost Benefits

The introduction of the Styromelt™ has positive cost cutting and environmental implications, by reducing the need for expensive transport, storage and disposal facilities, which are currently a necessity for many industries using polystyrene packaging.

The end product (briquette) of the thermal compaction process is completely sterile and recyclable and will continue to have an ever increasing market value!

The Styromelt System

Cost Savings

Running costs of typically less than £1 per hour are vastly offset by reduced waste management costs and the potential sale of the end product.

Landfill volume is reduced by not disposing of polystyrene so using a Styromelt™ can also be seen as good for the environment.

Reducing (or even eliminating) the amount of journeys waste disposal trucks make is also better for the environment as it reduces fuel usage and carbon emissions. Examples of the cost savings achievable by the Styromelt™ system are shown below…

CASE STUDY 1:Fish Merchant

A UK fish merchant was hiring 8 skips per week to remove mixed waste including polystyrene to landfill at a cost of £170 per skip. Total cost per week was £1,360 or £16,320 per year!

A Styromelt™ system was installed at the merchants to densify the polystyrene waste instead of sending it to landfill. The cost savings turned out to be very significant.

By separating the polystyrene the merchant needed only one skip per week for the rest of the mixed waste.

The remaining polystyrene was densified using the Styromelt™ with a running cost of approx 48p per hour or £76 per month to produce around 1 ton of completely sterile, easily stored product each month.

The merchant then sold this product for £100 to recyclers so they actually made a small profit on the running costs of the Styromelt™ machine!

The merchant now saves approx £1,190 per month or £14,280 a year thanks to Styromelt™ and the machine has more than paid for itself in a short period of time.

CASE STUDY 2:French Merchant

A merchant in France was spending €2,000 per month or €24,000 a year for the local council to collect tubs of polystyrene waste from their premises.

This cost to the company has been removed by installing a Styromelt™ system to densify and sterilise their waste polystyrene. They now plan to sell the densified product to a local recycling company.

CASE STUDY 3:Packaging Company

A packaging company in the UK was producing 8 tonnes of waste cardboard which it intended to sell to a local recycling company. The recycling company refused the waste because it had polystyrene trays mixed in with it.

The packaging company installed a Styromelt™ system and sorted their waste into two types. The cardboard was sold to the recyclers and the polystyrene was densified in order to be sold as well.

CASE STUDY 3:Agricultural Waste

A huge pile of used horticultural EPS packaging that was contaminated with soil, ivy and slugs and had been left untouched for at least ten years gave us the opportunity to test the Styromelt™ with some very challenging material. The thermal densifier does not crush or shred the material; it uses a thermal process so contaminants like food or soil do not damage the machine.

Reduce Agricultural Waste

It can be used for EPS, EPP and any other plastics to reduce the volume of a waste material so it can be economically transported to a recycler or to landfill if necessary.