US PLASTICS PACT REMOVES TRANSPORT EPS FROM ‘PROBLEMATIC’ LIST.

The change comes after the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance requested the removal of two plastic items that PSRA says are recyclable. The U.S. Plastics Pact first released its list of problematic or unnecessary materials in 2022, identifying 11 plastic packaging items that were “not currently reusable, recyclable, or compostable at scale in the U.S.” It called for those items to be phased out by 2025 to align with the group’s mission of advancing plastics circularity by fostering collaboration across plastics value chains. Source: www.packagingdive.com

While the list and how the items on it are addressed has evolved over time, no items have been removed until now. This milestone was only possible because of collaboration across the value chain, and that should be recognized — especially at a time when there are so many challenges to advancing a circular economy.

Transport EPS has a 31% recycling rate in North America, according to an end markets study released by PSRA this year. Nationwide, there are more than 700 drop-off locations and business-to-business recovery systems, it found. The material’s main recovery through commercial and drop-off channels, instead of residential curbside collection, means transport EPS is less contaminated.

「美國塑膠公約」（U.S. Plastics Pact）將運輸用發泡聚苯乙烯（EPS）從「問題材料」清單中移除。此調整源自於「聚苯乙烯回收聯盟」（PSRA）提出的請求，該聯盟主張將兩類其認為可回收的塑膠製品從清單中剔除。 「美國塑膠公約」於2022年首次發布了「問題材料或不必要材料」清單，列出了11種「目前在美國尚無法實現規模化重複使用、回收或堆肥」的塑膠包裝製品。該組織呼籲在2025年前逐步淘汰這些製品，以實現其透過促進塑膠價值鏈各環節協作來推動塑膠循環的使命。

儘管該清單及其所列製品的處理方式隨時間推移有所調整，但這還是首次有製品被正式移除。這項里程碑式的進展歸功於價值鏈各方的通力合作，這種合作精神值得肯定——尤其是在推動循環經濟面臨諸多挑戰的當下。

根據PSRA今年發布的一項關於終端市場的研究，運輸用EPS在北美的回收率為31%。研究發現，全美各地設有超過700個回收投放點，並建立了企業對企業（B2B）的回收系統。由於該材料主要透過商業管道和專門的回收投放點進行回收，而非依賴居民路邊收集，因此其受污染程度相對較低。