Exploring the EPS Waste Stream and New Material Applications

Laif & Nuver, a retail business in Groningen, have asked the Research Center for Built Environment at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences and House of Design for assistance with one of their waste streams: EPS – Ex-panded Polystyrene packaging (piepschuim). Laif & Nuver estimate that they produce 50 m3 of waste EPS once every six months. They currently dispose of this waste EPS in the general garbage bin. Laif & Nuver have been searching for interested parties to help them address this challenge and find alternative uses for their waste EPS. While they could accept the current status-quo and simply continue to dispose of the waste EPS in the gen-eral garbage bin, they have the idea that it can be transformed into innovative new materials and are motivated to explore this idea further. They have asked researchers at the Research Center for Built Environment and House of Design to help them develop the idea into knowledge and innovation. As a result, a partnership has been established between Laif & Nuver, Kastanje Wonen, FOLKconceptstore, House of Design and Hanze Uni-versity of Applied Sciences. In the first six-month phase of this new partnership an exploratory study of trans-forming waste EPS into new building and design material will be conducted.