Building a better environment

with EPS

Safeguarding
our future through
its complete life-cycle

European Manufacturers of EPS

 appropriate forms suited to their application.
What is EPS?
Expanded Polystyrene, or EPS for short, is a lightweight,
Who needs EPS?
rigid, plastic foam insulation material produced from Anyone who needs to thermally and acoustically insulate
solid beads of polystyrene. Expansion is achieved by walls, roofs or floors will find EPS the ideal, cost-effective
virtue of small amounts of pentane gas dissolved into the and easy-to-use material in all types of buildings, from
polystyrene base material during production. The gas houses and offices to factories and schools. EPS is used
expands under the action of heat, applied as steam, to by civil engineers as a lightweight fill or void-forming
form perfectly closed cells of EPS. These cells occupy material. It is also used as a flotation material.
approximately 40 times the volume of the original
polystyrene bead. The EPS beads are then moulded into

Why is it the best?

In addition to many significant user benefits, EPS offers
substantial environmental advantages. Use of EPS
actively contributes to a better environment. Some of the
ways in which it does so are outlined below. Moreover,
User benefits EPS makes this positive contribution at all stages of its
life-cycle, from manufacture, to application, to recycling
Excellent thermal insulant or disposal.
EPS is 98 percent air, and is therefore an excellent
thermal insulant.

Proven acoustic insulant

EPS absorbs sound, both impact sound in floating
Environmental benefits
floors and airborne sound for walls. Extremely safe
EPS is non-toxic and totally inert. It contains no
Moisture resistant Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) or Hydrofluorocarbons
EPS resists degradation by water. (HCFCs), and never has at any time during its
life-cycle. It is also totally absent of any nutritional
Lifetime durability value, so no fungi or micro-organisms can grow
EPS does not decompose. It therefore provides within EPS.
lifetime durability.
Recyclable
Flexible mechanical properties EPS can be recycled in many ways once it comes to
With its flexible production process, the mechanical the end of its life. These include recycling directly into
properties of EPS can be adjusted to suit every new building products and incineration to recover its
specified application. inherent energy content. The choice of a recycling
method is based on technical, environmental and
Versatile economic considerations.
EPS can be manufactured in almost any shape or size,
and is compatible with a wide variety of materials. Health Aspects
EPS presents no dangers to health in installation
Cost-effective and use.
EPS offers the best price/performance ratio compared
to any other insulation material. Fulfils all fire ane safety requirements
All EPS bullding applications, as promoted by the
Easy to transport European EPS Industry, fulfil local regulations in every
EPS is almost as light as air, so it saves fuel in European country.
transport.

Easy to install
EPS is light, practical, safe and easy to handle and
install.

Fire retardant 10 kg of EPS saves

In addition to ‘standard EPS’ there is also a ‘self 4000 litres of oil over
extinguishing’ version that includes a fire retardant. a 50 year period.
 stage
1 Manufacture
The manufacture of EPS conforms to the most stringent health and
safety requirements in Europe.

The manufacturing process and retain the pre-foam, and steam is again used to
There are five manufacturing stages: promote expansion. During moulding, the steam causes
Pre-expansion - Polystyrene granules are expanded fusion of each bead to its neighbours, thus forming a
by free exposure to steam to form larger beads, each homogeneous product.
consisting of a series of non-interconnecting cells.
Shaping - Following a short cooling period, the moulded
Conditioning - After expansion, the beads still contain block is removed from the machine, and after further
small quantities of both condensed steam and pentane conditioning, may be cut or shaped as required using
gas. As they cool, air gradually diffuses into the pores, hot-wire elements or other appropriate techniques.
replacing, in part, the other components.
Post-production processing - The finished product can
Moulding - The beads are moulded to form boards, be laminated with foils, plastics, roofing felt, fibreboard
blocks or customised products. The mould serves to shape or other facings such as roof or wall cladding material.

INPUT PROCESSES OUTPUT

Solid granules of polystyrene
with dissolved pentane Individual closed-cell
+ PRE-EXPANSION EPS beads
steam

CONDITIONING
Conditioned EPS beads
EPS boards, blocks or
+ MOULDING customised shapes
steam

READY TO USE
CONDITIONING
Conditioned EPS blocks
Finished EPS
+ CUTTING & SHAPING insulation products
Energy

EPS sheets Laminate insulation

+ Laminates
POST-PRODUCTION products for walls,
+ Adhesives PROCESSING roofs and floors

stage
2 Use
EPS maintains effective performance for the entire life of a building.

Use of EPS products makes a positive contribution production process is recovered many times over by the
to health and safety. energy saved in the buildings in which it is installed.
It remains effective for the entire life of the construction One kg of EPS saves at least 400 litres of oil over 50 years.
in which they are used. The energy used in the EPS EPS construction products comply with all European
building, fire and safety regulations for the application in Reduced fire risk
which they are used, even though they vary from country In almost all applications, EPS is covered by other
to country. building materials, such as concrete, brickwork or
plasterboard, therefore minimising the fire risk to
Some insulation materials are not usually associated with the EPS.
‘good health’. EPS, however, is universally recognised as
a non-harmful, pleasant material to work with. It is non- EPS is also available in fire retardant grades when
toxic, does not sting hands, irritate skin or nostrils, and required. These are more difficult to ignite than standard
has no known adverse effect on health. In its end-use grades, offering further protection during installation.
condition, EPS presents no health risks whatsoever.
The gases and vapours given off by EPS in a fire are less
Performance dangerous than those from many natural materials, such
In use, EPS is resistant to moisture and maintains a as timber and cork.
consistent level of thermal and acoustic performance.

stage
3 Recycling/Recovery
EPS can be treated in the most environmentally appropriate manner
via its range of waste management options

Reduction
It is a common misconception that many of our waste genuine post-consumer use.. The calorific value of EPS
problems are caused by plastics. In fact, the total amount available for heat recovery is slightly more than that of
of plastics in our municipal solid waste is only seven coal by weight.
percent by weight. Of this, EPS accounts for only a very
small fraction - just 0.1 percent. EPS products used in In a modern incinerator, EPS releases most of its energy
the construction industry have a very long effective as heat, aiding in the burning of municipal solid waste
lifetime because of their durability, so disposal of the and emitting only carbon-dioxide, water-vapour and a
product is minimised. trace of non-toxic ash. The fumes are non-toxic and are
not harmful to the environment as no dioxins or furans
Recycling/Disposal schemes are emitted. The energy gained can be used for local
There are several options to treat EPS building and heating and the generation of electricity.
demolition waste, each with environmental, technical and
economic implications to consider when choosing the best Landfill
option to implement in any one place. Although currently a large proportion of EPS waste is
disposed of in landfill, it is EUMEPS’ least preferred
Generally the most beneficial is direct re-use by grinding option since it does not create a ‘second life’ and is
clean EPS waste and adding it to virgin material during therefore not an optimal use of natural resources.
production. This waste can also be used to improve soil However, landfill using EPS does bring advantages.
condition. EPS waste is inert and non-toxic, so the landfill site
becomes more stable. EPS aerates the soil, encouraging
Alternatively, EPS can be melted and extruded to make plant growth on reclaimed sites. EPS does not degrade
compact polystyrene, for items such as plant pots, coat and will not leach any substances into ground-water,
hangers and a wood substitute. Medium toughened nor will it form explosive methane gas.
polystyrene from which sheets for thermoformed articles,
such as trays, can also be made. As part of mixed plastic EUMEPS’ role in waste management
waste, EPS can be recycled to make, for example, park EUMEPS as a whole has adopted responsibility for
benches, fence posts and road signs, ensuring the plastic post-life EPS. It endorses the need to minimise the
material has a long and useful second life. amount of materials used in every application by
delivering ‘just the necessary amount’, thus reducing
Energy recovery the amount of waste from off-cuts. EUMEPS promotes
This involves the recovery of energy, usually in the form any concept which is environmentally, technically and
of heat from incineration. This gives EPS-waste a economically beneficial.
EPS - taking care of the environment
Today, people in all walks of life are concerned about
the environment, and measures are being taken in all
industries to reduce the impact that activities have on
our surroundings.

For today’s building and construction industry,

concerns are being addressed by the careful choice
of building materials, and in particular, the selection
of insulation. One product which can contribute
The EPS life-cycle
towards a better environment in this field is EPS. EUMEPS sees the active lifetime of a product as
starting with the extraction of raw materials and
ending beyond disposal. That is why EUMEPS
works with the results of independent eco-balance
studies, or life-cycle analyses, which study the
environmental impact of a material as a whole, taking
all stages of the product’s lifetime into assessment. In
eco-balance studies, EPS performs well with
significant advantages over alternative materials.
Looking at the life-cycle as a whole dispels some of the
common misconceptions about EPS.

PROCESSES

INPUT PROCESSES
Raw materials acquired

Raw materials

Energy Manufacturing processing

and formulation OUTPUT
Distribution and transportation
Products

Use, re-use and maintenance

Solid wastes

Recycling Water effluents

Airborne emissions
Waste management
 Who is EUMEPS?
EUMEPS stands for the European Manufacturers of
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS). It reflects the interests
of all of Europe’s leading EPS manufacturers through
national associations.

There are two interest groups within the organisation:

EUMEPS Packaging and EUMEPS Construction.

EPS comprises 35 percent of the total building and

construction insulation market with 10,000 people
directly employed in the EPS industry.

Founded in 1989, EUMEPS now has the support

of 95 percent of the European EPS industry.

EUMEPS acts as an intra-industry task force,

monitoring and co-ordinating a continuous process
of improvement in European EPS manufacture with
‘cradle to grave’ responsibility for the products.
This is achieved via working groups focused on:

• Health, Safety and the Environment

• Standardisation
• Fire safety
• Communications.

EUMEPS is a partner on a European level for

economic, political and technical issues to relevant
parties including the building and construction
industry, legislative authorities, architects, engineers,
developers and consumers.

Further information on EPS for the construction industry is

available from

Eumeps (Construction)
Avenue Marcel Thiry 204
B-1200 Brussels
Belgium

Tel: +32 2 774 96 20

Fax: +32 2 774 96 90
E-mail: eumeps@eyam.be
VAT reg. no. BE453127976

International/non-profit association
Eumeps August 2002

European Manufacturers of EPS