Why EPS?

Light­weight, shock-resis­tant, and an excep­tion­al insu­la­tor, EPS is a high­ly ver­sa­tile pack­ag­ing material.

Three reasons: Versatility, Reliability and Sustainability

Expand­ed poly­styrene is a high­ly ver­sa­tile pack­ag­ing mate­r­i­al wide­ly used to pro­tect every­thing from elec­tron­ics to bees to peo­ple: EPS is wide­ly used in bicy­cle, ski and snow­board hel­mets, children’s car seats and life vests – appli­ca­tions in which both safe­ty reg­u­la­tions and users demand excep­tion­al performance.

It is also high­ly reli­able: Light­weight, shock-resis­tant, and an excep­tion­al insu­la­tor, EPS is wide­ly used to pro­tect high-vol­ume goods from fresh fish, fruit and veg­eta­bles to super-cooled COVID-19 vac­cines and human organ trans­plants dur­ing transportation.

More­over, EPS pack­ag­ing is sus­tain­able: because it con­tains 98% air, it saves ener­gy and reduces CO2 emis­sions dur­ing trans­port. It also helps reduce food waste. It is an eas­i­ly recog­nis­able mate­r­i­al, which can thus be eas­i­ly sep­a­rat­ed and sort­ed. Last­ly, since it is made with a sin­gle poly­mer, it is easy to recy­cle into new prod­ucts includ­ing new pack­ag­ing, build­ing insulation—even surfboards.

For these rea­sons and many more, EPS is the smart pack­ag­ing choice for a wide range of pack­ag­ing challenges.

WZHirsch-edit BewiSynbraVegetables-edit BEWiSynbra DenmarkPandalus A/S leandro-fregoni-984b72nd5hg-unsplash-edit-web

Versatility

Most peo­ple think of EPS in terms of bright white, light­weight box­es that pro­tect some­thing that they have bought. But did you know that EPS is also used in gear such as bicy­cle hel­mets and children’s car seats?

In fact, EPS is used in many ways that peo­ple might find sur­pris­ing: as an arti­fi­cial seed bed for seedlings in plant nurs­eries, to pro­tect bees, to save lives at sea, to pro­vide light­weight cush­ion­ing for auto­mo­biles – even to make surfboards.

EPS protects the things that matter most

Light­weight and shock-resis­tant, EPS is used in bicy­cle and ski hel­mets, children’s car seats and life vests.

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Sustainability-Seedlings-BEWI

EPS gar­den and hor­ti­cul­tur­al trays are wide­ly used to pro­tect seedlings. 

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Sustainability-Beehive-Zerzog

EPS bee­hives help keep bees warm in the win­ter and cool in the summer.

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Safety-Buoy-BEWI

EPS is used in life vests, res­cue rings…and even remote-con­trolled buoys.

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Car-Protection-BEWI

Fuel-effi­cient auto­mo­biles are all the rage. EPS helps.

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This is how EPS COVID-19 vaccine shipping works – all at ‑70° C

Smart-Packaging-Europe-Infographic-Vaccine-Transport-2a

Reliability

If EPS has been going strong since the 1950s that’s in part because it has proved to be extreme­ly reli­able: In addi­tion to the uses men­tioned above, it’s also the pack­ag­ing of choice for super-cooled COVID-19 vac­cines, fresh fish and seafood and fresh fruit & vegetables. 

EPS is also wide­ly used to pro­tect sen­si­tive elec­tri­cal and elec­tron­ic equip­ment such as tele­vi­sions and high-val­ue white goods such as refrig­er­a­tors, ovens and wash­ing machines.

EPS-saves-lives.

Many COVID-19 vac­cines are deliv­ered exclu­sive­ly in EPS pack­ag­ing for its out­stand­ing ther­mal insulation.

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Protection-White-Goods-Schlaadt

Most of the world’s refrig­er­a­tors, wash­ing machines and oth­er white goods are shipped in EPS.

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BEWiSynbra DenmarkPandalus A/S

EPS is the lead­ing pack­ag­ing for fresh fish and fish prod­ucts from sea to sales counter across the globe.

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Fresh-Food-Packaging-BEWI

Food waste is a major envi­ron­men­tal prob­lem. Luck­i­ly, EPS pro­vides a solution.

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EPS is the pack­ag­ing mate­r­i­al of choice for most elec­tri­cal and elec­tron­ic equipment. 

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Sustainability

The best measure of the sustainability of any product is its total life-cycle impact, including its carbon footprint.

Because expand­ed poly­styrene, or EPS, is com­posed of 98% air, it has an excel­lent sus­tain­abil­i­ty pro­file. It uses resources such as water and raw mate­ri­als – 2% poly­styrene from fos­sil sources or from recy­cled EPS – effi­cient­ly in pro­duc­tion. It is lighter than almost any alter­na­tive pack­ag­ing mate­r­i­al with sim­i­lar ther­mal insu­la­tion and shock absorp­tion prop­er­ties dur­ing trans­porta­tion. Ulti­mate­ly, the sus­tain­abil­i­ty of pack­ag­ing mate­ri­als is to a large extent deter­mined by how well they pro­tect the con­tents inside: Every prod­uct which gets bro­ken or goes bad is waste.

Because it is so light­weight, EPS pack­ag­ing reduces the car­bon foot­print of every­thing that it pro­tects dur­ing trans­porta­tion, from fresh fish and pro­duce to refrig­er­a­tors. A 2011 life-cycle analy­sis by Price­wa­ter­house­C­oop­ers* found that use of EPS pack­ag­ing results in less green­house gas emis­sions, pol­lu­tion and waste than card­board, with three times less water consumption.

Did we mention that it is fully recyclable?
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