Closing the loop PS Switzerland (Jan. 2025)

cycleworks: Closing the PS cycle in Switzerland together

Since 2020, stakeholders from the entire polystyrene (PS) value chain have been coming together to work on a solution: the closed loop for polystyrene (PS) food packaging. Promoting this "food-to-food" recycling is an essential step towards a sustainable circular economy, as secondary raw materials, i.e. recycled materials, play a key role in environmentally friendly packaging.

However, implementation brings with it various challenges. In order to solve these complex issues, cooperation between all those involved along the value chain is crucial. That is why we are discussing key questions such as:

• How do you guarantee the quality of recycled polystyrene?
• How do you prevent contaminants from migrating into food?
• What sorting purity of food material must be achieved before the recyclate can be reused in food contact?

Format from cycleworks

The cycleworks meetings are held online three times a year and have been moderated by us since 2021. The meetings provide updates on the legal and technical framework conditions for PS recycling in Switzerland and the EU and create a space for knowledge exchange and joint solution approaches. There are clear compliance rules - e.g. no commercial topics are discussed and no market player may be excluded from a future solution.