Melting at Rolls

Working with waste contractor Biffa, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has employed a new method to recycle its polystyrene waste.

Polystyrene is an excellent packaging material due to its insulating and protective properties. Unfortunately, once goods are delivered and opened, the polystyrene becomes a waste material that companies must pay to dispose of. Large, bulky pieces of polystyrene can take up significant space in a waste container which means it will need to be emptied more often – and therefore is more costly.

'Rolls-Royce Motor Cars produce around 20-40 large polystyrene trays that are used to protect the front grill sections of the Phantom and other chrome parts. Enough to fill three or more waste containers every week,' said Carl Payne, the operations manager at Biffa.

But the cars probably produce only around half a tonne of polystyrene per month, so it made it unfeasible for recycling companies to collect and recycle, he added.

That's because polystyrene is roughly 95 per cent air and only five per cent recyclable material. Therefore, filling a lorry with polystyrene is disproportionately expensive because of the large volume of space it takes up compared to the small amount of material that can be recycled.