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Polystyrene foam is an important part of our everyday lives. Recycling polystyrene and diverting it from landfills has become an important focus for our company and industry at large.

In 2019, AmSty partnered with Agilyx, a chemical recycling technology company, to form Regenyx – a 5-year joint venture to create a demonstration plant dedicated to converting polystyrene foam back to its original molecular form. The resulting resin was then made back into polystyrene pellets used to make original products –like utensils, cups and food containers – with the same quality and durability. Polystyrene products are made new again, instead of being tossed in the trash.

Regenyx, recognized by the American Chemistry Council as a 2020 Sustainability Leader, was the first large-scale advanced polystyrene recycling system in the world. The joint venture proved that through innovations and partnerships, we can move exponentially closer to our long-term vision that polystyrene products never go to the landfill, but are reclaimed, reprocessed and reused over and over.

Regenyx: Mission Accomplished

Polystyrene foam is an important part of our everyday lives, but the reality is, very few polystyrene products are recycled.

Five years ago, we set out to prove that we could keep polystyrene out of our landfills through advanced recycling. We are proud to have completed that five-year proof-of-concept pilot project with Regenyx, a joint venture between AmSty and Agilyx, which demonstrated that the technology to recycle used polystyrene works. 

At Regenyx, we collected used polystyrene foam, then used circular recycling technology and converted it back to its original molecular form. This created millions of pounds of new resin pellets that have been used to make new products like cups and food containers with the same quality and durability as brand new polystyrene. Those products can be recycled through this process again and again.

Now that the Regenyx pilot project is complete, we’re applying our learnings to future projects and moving forward to make polystyrene recycling a widespread practice. One example is our partnership with Encina. We’re excited for the future of circular recycling and invite you to follow us on the journey. 

Want to learn more about our sustainability journey? Click here.