Expanded polystyrene recycling
We buy clean EPS from businesses across the UK. Packaging blocks, insulation offcuts, fish boxes. Compacted, baled or loose.
We work with businesses producing EPS regularly and in volume. Minimum volumes apply, particularly for loose material. Business sellers only.
Tell us what you have and what form it is in, and we'll come back with how we'd handle it.
EPS is about 98% air, which is the whole problem. A skip fills in an afternoon, the collections cost more than the material seems worth, and most of it goes to landfill because nobody has offered a better answer.
There is one. Clean EPS has a real market, and once the air is out of it the economics change entirely. Greenview buys EPS from businesses across the UK. Collected from your site, or delivered into our Garthorpe site just outside Melton Mowbray.
Selling scrap EPS: what makes a load worth moving
EPS is a rigid foam made from expanded polystyrene beads, used for protective packaging around electronics, furniture and white goods, as insulation board in construction, and as fish boxes in food distribution. It is recyclable and there is steady demand for it, but the recovered material has to reach a reprocessor in a form that makes the journey worthwhile.
That is what separates EPS from every other plastic we buy. With film or rigids, value follows grade and cleanliness. With EPS, density comes first. Loose blocks are mostly air, so a lorry carries very little actual polystyrene, which is why loose material needs volume before a collection makes sense, and why compacted or baled EPS is straightforward to move in any quantity.
Cleanliness matters too. Tape, labels, food residue, dirt, wood, cardboard and other plastics all interfere with reprocessing, and heavily contaminated EPS is not recoverable.
EPS we buy
- Compacted EPS blocks and ingots Densified using screw or thermal compaction. The simplest form to move and the easiest to place.
- Baled EPS Clean packaging or sheet waste compressed into secure bales.
- Loose EPS packaging blocks Clean, consistent blocks from furniture, appliance or electronics deliveries. Volume-dependent, see below.
- EPS insulation offcuts Clean construction and manufacturing waste, baled or bagged.
- EPS fish boxes Subject to condition and handling arrangement. Usually needs washing and compaction.
Preparation and quality
Density decides what is practical. Compacted or baled EPS moves like any other material. Loose EPS is mostly air, so a collection has to be worth the journey, which usually means either a full load or somewhere we are already going.
You may not need a compactor. If you are producing enough EPS to be considering one, tell us before you buy. Depending on your volumes and location we may be able to take the material as it is, and it is worth knowing that before you commit to the capital.
What to keep out. Tape and labels in quantity, food residue, dirt, wood, cardboard and other plastics. EPS is easily contaminated and heavily contaminated material cannot be recovered. Keep it dry and keep it indoors if you can.
Who we work with
- Electronics and appliance manufacturers, retailers and distributors
- Furniture manufacturers and retailers
- Construction companies and insulation installers
- Fish processors, wholesalers and markets
- Logistics and distribution operations
- Waste operators with compaction or baling capacity
Why Greenview
Transparency
Clear on what we pay and why, with a full audit trail on every load.
Reliability
Collections when we say, and material moved before it backs up.
Flexibility
Collect from your site, or deliver into ours. Whichever fits your operation.
Compliance
Proper duty-of-care and waste-transfer paperwork, every time.
What to tell us
- 01What the EPS is, and whether it is packaging, insulation or fish boxes
- 02Whether it is compacted, baled or loose, and roughly what it weighs
- 03Roughly how much comes off site, and how often
- 04Photographs, which tell us more than a description
- 05Your location
Tell us what you produce.
Whatever the material, the first step is the same. A short conversation about volumes, how it comes off site, and where it goes from there.
Start an enquiry