Transport & logistics
Food industry
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) recycling
In E.Leclerc supermarkets, expanded polystyrene boxes are everywhere, especially at fish counters. Once empty, they become a headache: very bulky, almost weightless and with no obvious sorting route.
Company: SCARMOR, the purchasing cooperative of the E.Leclerc Movement in Brittany (Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Morbihan)
Sector: Food retail and logistics
Support: structuring EPS packaging waste flows, trialling a mobile compacting unit for collection and consolidation at source, directing waste towards recycling, and preparing for the EPR scheme for
Project partners: Tribord and Valorplast, with support from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste.
A dispersed flow across an entire store network
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) fish boxes are a common sight in E.Leclerc stores in Finistère, particularly at fish counters. EPS arrives in many forms: fish boxes at the fish counter, insulated bins and boxes, and cushioning for fragile or bulky products. Once empty, this packaging becomes a headache: very bulky, very light and with no obvious collection route.
Nationally, around 55,000 tonnes of professional EPS packaging are placed on the market each year. Some of this waste, particularly from dispersed flows, is still sent for energy recovery or landfill. We take a closer look at the challenges in our article on EPS recycling.
For SCARMOR, which supplies more than 100 E.Leclerc stores in Brittany, the issue arose across an entire network.
Before the trial, SCARMOR and its stores used a range of different solutions to treat polystyrene. EPS was often sent to the non-hazardous industrial waste stream, because there was no simple, effective sorting route.
Antoine Hamon, Quality / HSE Manager, E.Leclerc (SCARMOR)
The need: capturing a dispersed flow and finding a recycling route for it
First, the technical challenge. EPS is mostly made up of air: its density is only around 7 kg/m³. Transporting it as it is mainly means transporting volume: trucks are full long before they are heavy, which increases the cost and impact of every tonne collected. Without reducing its volume as close as possible to where it is generated, the flow remains difficult to collect at an acceptable cost, and therefore difficult to direct towards recycling. Small, dispersed sources are the hardest hit: they often lack the space or volume to justify installing a press on each site.
Second, the organisational challenge. Stores used different solutions from one site to another. Without a simple, cost-effective sorting route, EPS was usually sent to the non-hazardous industrial waste stream: a recyclable material that was not recovered, more frequent skip collections and little consolidated visibility of the volumes actually involved.
Faced with this situation, SCARMOR needed a solution that would work at scale and fit the operating rhythm of a store network: a system that would collect the material where it is generated.
Twiice’s support: from regulation to action
Before any roll-out, Twiice worked with its partners to scope the system: identifying the sites generating EPS and the volumes involved, analysing existing collection routes, choosing the pilot stores and defining the conditions for a real-world test. Nineteen E.Leclerc supermarkets and hypermarkets in Finistère took part in sorting EPS for the trial.
An innovative solution: compacting EPS as close to sites as possible
Twiice, Tribord and Valorplast, with support from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, have jointly developed an operational response, with a trial area in Finistère for a mobile EPS compacting unit.
A truck-mounted press travels directly to waste holders: retailers, fish auction markets, ports and manufacturers. The EPS is compacted on site into dense blocks of material. This greatly increases its density and makes it much more efficient to transport. The blocks are then sent for recycling. The target end uses for recycled EPS include building insulation, the manufacture of new plastic products and certain types of non-food packaging.
Mobilising the value chain
Throughout the process, Twiice mobilised its network of industrial companies, packaging manufacturers, recyclers and operators to develop practical solutions suited to realities on the ground, drawing on lessons from the pilot projects it has run since 2019.
Initial feedback and next steps
The aim of this trial: to treat up to 100 tonnes of expanded polystyrene in one year, and to demonstrate the value of mobile collection for capturing dispersed flows.
On the ground, SCARMOR has seen three types of benefit. EPS management is simpler: the material is now sent for recycling rather than to the general industrial waste stream. There is also a financial benefit, in particular through fewer skip collections. And collection takes place directly at the stores, without any major reorganisation on their side.
Beyond this first milestone, the trial provides a basis for an in-depth analysis against economic, logistical and environmental criteria. It should make it possible to identify the areas and configurations where this collection model is most relevant, before considering its roll-out elsewhere in France.
A transformation built collectively
Beyond the volume treated, this project shows what becomes possible when manufacturers, retailers and waste management operators work together to improve the circularity of professional packaging, ahead of EPRO and the European target of recycling 55% of plastic packaging by 2030.
Expanded polystyrene recycling shows that, beyond the technical challenges, success depends on operational solutions suited to realities on the ground. By testing new collection and recovery models, Twiice supports companies in implementing practical solutions to make their professional packaging more circular.
“We have seen a major simplification in EPS management: it is now recovered rather than disposed of as general industrial waste. There is also a real financial benefit for our stores, particularly through fewer skip collections.”
Antoine Hamon, Quality / HSE Manager, E.Leclerc (SCARMOR)
The work continues with the gradual extension of the system to other types of waste holders (fish auction markets, industrial sites and logistics platforms) and the roll-out of the solution to new areas. The aim is to turn this early progress into a collection model that can be deployed at scale.
Every organisation has its own challenges, constraints and priorities. Twiice helps you identify them and take action.