AOR-member Agilyx will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of their Tigard, Oregon polystyrene-to-styrene oil plant on April 19, 2018 at 10am. The ribbon-cutting will launch a week of celebrations, including plant tours by invitation from April 24-26, 2018. The plant is the first commercial-scale closed-loop chemical recycling process for polystyrene in the world. The plant will recycle up to 10 tons per day of previously unrecoverable polystyrene waste and produce high-quality styrene oil that will be used by styrene manufacturers AmSty and INEOS Styrolution for processing into the virgin polystyrene stream used for manufacturing consumer goods.

“The Company has been converting waste mixed plastics into crude oil since 2005 and the expansion of our platform to chemically recycle polystyrene waste back to monomers is a significant advancement to circular economy solutions and a milestone achievement for our Company,” stated Joe Vaillancourt, Chief Executive Officer of Agilyx. “Polystyrene is a very versatile, cost effective and valuable polymer used in our everyday lives. However, it is one of the least recycled materials in today’s recycling programs. We are proud to have commercialized the first chemical recycling solution creating a more sustainable end-of-life solution for polystyrene.”

Currently, the worldwide consumption of polystyrene is approximately 16 Million Tons and expected to grow to 17.5 Million Tons by 2019. In the United States only 1.3% of polystyrene is currently recycled. Globally, of all plastics produced in 2016, 369.3 Million Tons, only 2.5% (9.26 Million Tons) were recycled. The Agilyx chemical recycling pathway is a true circular and sustainable solution for waste polystyrene and serves as a foundation to pursue other discrete polymer recycling pathways.

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