A new recycling method for fresh fish boxes allows to obtain insulations for construction

14 March 2016


A new recycling method for fresh fish boxes allows to obtain insulations for construction

Funded within the programme EEA GRANTS through CDTI, the project EPS-FISH makes possible to remove odours in fresh fish packages for their recycling and recovery. EPS FISH has been developed by ACTECO and AIMPLAS, with really good results, since the recycled material obtained has been validated by means of manufacturing XPS and EPS insulating panels with adequate physical-mechanical properties.

The project EPS-FISH to recycle expanded polystyrene wastes from fresh fish packages finished in late December 2015 with good results. This project, developed by ACTECO PRODUCTOS Y SERVICIOS, S.L., with the assessment of AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, has been funded by CDTi within the call EEA GRANTS.

The project's target achieved has been obtaining a recycled material with high quality and without odours from waste of EPS boxes of fish and other sea products. Ths waste is not usually recycled in Spain, nor in other European countries, since odour intensifies more when being pressed and retained to reduce the waste volume, due to an initial low intensity of them. Until now it was pressed and sent out of the European Union for recovery which meant a high CO2 emission cost and a loss of resource to the wider EU community.

With the project implementation and by means of applying decontamination technologies and methodologies, the waste initial odour has been reduced, what has allowed to obtain an adequate recycled material. To obtain this material, several techniques have been used, with good results: pre-treatment of wastes, intensive washing and extrusion with supercritical fluids (sc-CO2).

The recycled material obtained has been validated by means of manufacturing XPS and EPS insulating panels with adequate physical-mechanical properties for their use in the construction sector. This last point was so critical due to the final application required. This situation allows a direct commercialisation of the product developed.





Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.