Polystyrene Recycling Plant to Reopen

The former Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Association in Malton is reopening under a new name.

A Malton, Ontario, processing plant that closed late last year, is expected to reopen under new owners, according to an article by the Mississauga (Ontario) News.

The former Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Association was the only location in Ontario where municipalities in the province could send their used polystyrene.

Sam Alavy, the owner of a group of businesses in Port Hope, Ontario, dedicated to the recovery and re-manufacturing of polystyrene into picture frames and other construction moldings, confirmed to local newspapers that his company purchased the former CPRA plant.

The new company, to be called the Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Alliance, will open as soon as possible, said Alavy. When he learned how the CPRA was winding down its business and that Ontario municipalities might be left with nowhere to recycle the collected polystyrene, he approached the association.

When the CPRA first announced plans to shutter the plant backers of the plant noted that CPRA's members have invested close to $7 million in recycling equipment since the group formed in 1991. However, the weak U.S. dollar resulted in a roughly 30 percent decline in revenue for the plant.

It is expected that the purchase of the Mississauga facility will double the capacity for Alavy’s operations.

Opened in 1991, the CPRA was funded by a number of resin producers, product manufacturers and end-users of polystyrene. Last year the company announced that due to economic conditions it would be unable to continue. The announcement came even as the city of Toronto added polystyrene to its collection program. Mississauga (Ontario) News