• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Resources Recycling Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.165-169
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• 2003

Current volume reduction methods for wasted expandable polystyrene (EPS) foam are summarized and compared each other. Wasted EPS foam has not been recycled effectively because of its large volume to weight ratio. This has prevented from its proper recycling because of high cost of transportation to recycling plant. Successful recycling of wasted EPS foam results directly from successful, i.e. economically and environmentally, volume reduction of wasted EPS foam. This paper deals with various methods for volume reduction methods of wasted EPS foam. Five typical methods of volume reduction are introduced and they are compared each other in terms of expected PS properties after volume reduction, cost effectiveness of each process, possible effects on environment caused by the volume reduction process, and possible recycled products. The methods include thermal, solvent, far infrared and mechanical compaction. Comparison in this paper is made mostly in qualitative manner. The focus in this study is concentrated on summarizing and comparing existing methods of volume reduction for wasted EPS foam.