CPIA partners for new polystyrene recycling program being tested in Montreal

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), the City of Montreal, and various other partners are testing an improved system for the collection and transportation of clean polystyrene.

Montreal residents are being asked to drop off their post-consumer foam or rigid polystyrene products at the Ecocenter recycling facility in LaSalle, Que.

The project will take place over the next year, the Toronto-based CPIA said in a statement, and could become the model for the collection of polystyrene at other depots. It will run for four seasons, which will make the project more efficient and provide more complete data.

“The objective is to find an economical and sustainable environmental solution to the collection and recycling of post-consumer polystyrene, thereby diverting this material from landfills, said Paul Aucoin, the CPIA’s director of business development. “The main challenges lie in the collection of clean polystyrene, in an economical transportation system, and then in the recycling of the polystyrene into new manufactured products.”

The citizens can drop off, in a space reserved for that purpose at the LaSalle Ecocenter, their well-cleaned polystyrene articles, free of any labels, absorbent pads, aluminum covers, tapes, et cetera, CPIA said. The polystyrene recovered at the LaSalle Ecocenter will be recycled by Quebec company Polystyrene Recyc Plus and made into new articles such as insulating boards, cushion packaging, and other construction products made by the firm Polyform.

“This project is made possible through the financial contribution of the CPIA and their members, including the Quebec firms Cascades, Dyne-a-pak and Aliments Ultima, as well as with the support of the City of Montreal, which is offering access to the LaSalle Ecocenter and assisting further with various consumer awareness tools,” the CPIA statement said.