A Game-Changing Partnership Fuels Circular Economy
Randy Pogue, AmSty CEO
At AmSty, our goal is to help our end customers produce the most sustainable products using polystyrene. With increasing public desire for sustainable products that enhance our everyday lives, brands are hungry for innovation that will help them meet their ambitious sustainability goals and consumer demand.
We're proud of the steady progress we've made toward sustainable circular recycling solutions over the past decade, moving forward with technology that transforms polystyrene plastic waste back into new products with the same quality and durability as the original.
But a new partnership is a game-changer – taking our efforts to an entirely new level.
AmSty and Encina
We're excited about our recent agreement with Encina, an innovator in circular materials, to purchase circular feedstocks from their new advanced recycling facility in Pennsylvania when it comes online in 2025. And that's just the beginning.
We've also signed a long-term MOU with Encina to purchase additional circular feedstocks beyond 2025 as they build more advanced recycling facilities across the U.S. to help solve the plastic waste challenge by repurposing it back into new plastic products – a circular solution.
Encina produces circular materials using a proprietary advanced recycling technology that, unlike traditional mechanical recycling, works at the molecular level. The polymer chains are split apart and converted back into their original chemical building blocks, which can then be reused to make new products.
This partnership means a generous supply of circular feedstock for converters and customers that reduces waste, helps manufacturers achieve carbon neutral goals and offsets the need to produce virgin materials. It will significantly expand access for recycled polystyrene.
These circular feedstocks will be available for purchase, based on the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) mass-balance approach. As each new Encina plant comes online, AmSty plans to enter into additional offtake agreements to purchase circular feedstocks from those facilities.
With both Encina and Amsty recently receiving ISCC PLUS designation, companies and their customers can be assured that the sustainability characteristics claimed, such as percentage of recycled content, are validated.
This new collaboration is not only vital to helping us meet our goal that all polystyrene products designed for food packaging applications contain at least 30% recycled content by 2030, but demonstrates our total commitment to a sustainable future across each of the market segments we serve.
The Time is Now
It is truly a victory for brand owners and converters seeking sustainable packaging and consumer products that are part of a circular economy. And it's a victory for consumers, too. This partnership creates new value for recycled polystyrene and, as the waste collection process improves, will simplify participation by an environmentally conscientious public.
Now is the time for market leaders to join forces with us to commit to introducing circular polystyrene products at scale for the long term. We have been working diligently toward this moment and are now ready to move forward in a big way.
We're excited about the early momentum as eager companies approach us about accessing this new source of feedstock, which will be available beginning in 2025. Demand is stronger than supply, so there's some sense of urgency. Regardless, the AmSty/Encina contract signals a giant leap forward and is a win-win for everyone along the value chain.
We look forward to continued conversations with like-minded companies as we continue our journey toward a fully circular economy for polystyrene.
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