Document ID: EPA-HQ-OPPT-2020-0548-0013
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2021-09-22T04:00Z

﻿UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYWASHINGTON, D.C. 20460

OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFTEYAND POLLUTION PREVENTION
Notes of personal communications with Richard Garrison, Vice President of Nationwide Foam Recycling
Subject: Recycling and reuse of EPS and XPS insulation
Dates: January 26, 2021 (phone call and emails); March 4, 2021 (phone call); 3-10-21 email; 3-29-21 email
From: Sue Slotnick
Contact information:
Richard Garrison
Richard@nationwidefoam.comNationwide
888 820 2760
These notes combine the information Mr. Garrison provided in the initial phone call to him on January 26, 2021, an email exchange, a second phone call on March 4, 2021, and a final email exchange on March 29, 2021. The term "recycle" in these notes refers to melting or compressing used insulation boards and further processing the polystyrene into end products. The term "reuse" means using whole boards that were reclaimed when removed from a building. 
Nationwide Foam Recycling facilitates the reuse (of XPS insulation boards) and recycling (of EPS insulation boards) by collecting them from commercial re-roofing projects and distributing the XPS boards to reuse markets and the EPS boards to recycling facilities. Nationwide operates nationally, sending trucks to pick up boards from re-roofing of large commercial flat roofs. End users of reclaimed XPS are mostly small commercial and DIY-ers who use it below grade under a slab or on the outside of foundation walls and sometimes for roofs. Nationwide has a sister company called Conigliaro Industries which operates a multimaterial recycling plant with a dedicated EPS recycling process line. Although Nationwide operates with a small staff, the company has provided service to commercial roofers in all 50 states and southern Canada. 
Post-consumer EPS insulation boards are rarely, if ever, recycled into new insulation boards because they are not "clean" enough to meet the strict standards of block molders making white products. Mr. Garrison knows of little or no regular recycling of reclaimed XPS insulation primarily because it has a much higher value for reuse as an insulation board. The XPS boards retain value for reuse and recycling and would require more robust processing equipment (than EPS), so post-consumer boards are much less likely to be recycled. Mr. Garrison has tried recycling XPS himself and it didn't work well in the standard EPS recycling line at Conigliaro Industries. Pre-consumer EPS/XPS (i.e., industrial scrap) are often recycled back into the molders' own process lines. 
As compared to EPS packaging, there is limited recycling of EPS insulation board. As a result, EPS recycling feedstock  may be roughly 99% post-consumer packaging and less than  1% insulation. There are probably fewer than 25 companies in the U.S. that focus on recovering rigid foam insulation (EPS/XPS/ISO) for reuse or recycling on a regular basis. However, there may be hundreds of single person operations that occasionally reclaim loads for reuse when they become available in their area. The very great majority, say 95%, of the reclaimed loads are for reuse, not recycling. That is where the loads have the most value, by far. Further, probably 80% or more are polyiso and not EPS or XPS. Many companies focus almost exclusively on factory seconds (preconsumer).
Insulation boards are reclaimed from roofs but not walls; roofs are replaced more frequently. Mr. Garrison is not aware of an association of recyclers specific to reclaiming rigid foam insulation for reuse or recycling. 
A large part of the post-consumer EPS that is recycled in the US is made into rigid styrene picture frames and architectural moldings (INTCO - China, Timbron - CA, Uniek, - WI, others).
Nationwide has a sister company called Conigliaro Industries which recycles EPS packaging and occasionally EPS insulation board. 
When Nationwide collects EPS insulation from jobsites for recycling they are typically transported in 53' closed van trailers. The roofer will bring the sheets down from the roof and stack them in the trailer. Nationwide delivers the material to the closest facility that can process the sheets for recycling. The trailer will butt to a loading dock and the stacks of insulation will typically be unloaded with a forklift. The sheets will be loaded into a hopper that feeds a breaker. The breaker will reduce the sheets into small pieces (2" or so) that will feed a densifier that will either melt it to make a patty or compress it into densified blocks. The densified material is shipped out in truckload quantities to a manufacturing plant that will then pelletize and/or extrude the material to make new styrene products. Most postconsumer EPS reclaimed for recycling is made into picture frames in China, the U.S and elsewhere 
The block molders who make insulation and other thick bodied products run their own plant scrap through and are very picky about feedstock being clean. They don't like to use old insulation boards because they're not clean/white enough. The color or whiteness of feedstock used to make picture frames isn't as important because color is added to make the frames. The company in China prefers to use EPS packaging rather than EPS insulation as a feedstock as they say the flame retardants present in insulation affects the throughput rate. They intentionally blend in small amounts of EPS insulation feedstock to maintain a standard throughput rate.
The alternative to recycling or reusing EPS/XPS insulation boards is disposal.  The roofers will load the EPS/XPS into open top 30/40-yd open top roll off containers at jobsites and send to a local landfill or waste to energy facility.
It is easy to distinguish EPS insulation board from packaging when they are going into a recycling system. Mr. Garrison said that the packaging is typically much smaller, usually has many angles/edges and is thinner bodied. Insulation boards are large flat sheets, have straight edges and are much thicker, 2"-6" thick.