BEWI has opened a recycling facility for expanded polystyrene (EPS) in Norway, anticipating an annual recycling capacity of up to 3,500 tonnes.
Thought to be the first of its kind in the country, the facility is located at BEWI’s production site for insulation solutions in Fredrikstad. It takes in packaging and insulation waste from the region, granulating or mechanically processing it into raw material for new insulation products like GreenLine EPS and Terra XPS.
BEWI plans to increase the use of recycled content in its product lines. It claims to have collected 38,000 tonnes of waste across Europe in 2025.
The company also operates recycling plants in Sweden, Czechia, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, and has minority interests in a recycling facility in Poland.
“We are proud to open a recycling facility here in Fredrikstad,” says Jens Christian Hernes, managing director of BEWI’s insulation operations in Norway. “Using in-house recycled material directly in the production allows us to meet the growing demand for insulation products with recycled content, driven by both the market and regulations.
“This project would not have been possible without close support from our partners. A special thanks to Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund, Sintef Community, and local stakeholders.
“Effective EPS recycling relies on collaboration across the value chain, from collection and logistics to recycling and production. These partnerships are essential to make the system work in practice and at scale.”
In a similar development, Fych Technologies closed a Series A funding round last November with over €6 million in grants and equity – and planned to build an industrial recycling plant to recycle 3,000 tonnes of post-consumer multilayer plastics every year.
Around the same time, Greiner Packaging announced that it would incorporate mechanically recycled polystyrene into its K3 cups. This is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 10% compared to previous K3 multipack cups.
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