SIST EN 18092:2025

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-december-2025
Smernice za načrtovanje recikliranja plastičnih gradbenih izdelkov - Izolacijski
proizvodi iz ekspandiranega polistirena (EPS)
Design-for-recycling guidelines for plastic construction products - Insulation products of
expanded polystyrene (EPS)
Design-for-Recycling-Leitlinien für Bauprodukte aus Kunststoff - Wärmedämmstoffe aus
expandiertem Polystyrol (EPS)
Lignes directrices pour la conception en vue du recyclage des produits de construction
en plastique - Produits d'isolation thermique en polystyrène expansé (EPS)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 18092:2025
ICS:
13.030.50 Recikliranje Recycling
83.080.20 Plastomeri Thermoplastic materials
91.100.60 Materiali za toplotno in Thermal and sound insulating
zvočno izolacijo materials
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EN 18092
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
October 2025
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 13.030.50
English Version
Design-for-recycling guidelines for plastic construction
products - Insulation products of expanded polystyrene
(EPS)
Lignes directrices pour la conception en vue du Design-for-Recycling-Leitlinien für Bauprodukte aus
recyclage des produits de construction en plastique - Kunststoff - Wärmedämmstoffe aus expandiertem
Produits isolants en polystyrène expansé (PSE) Polystyrol (EPS)
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 1 September 2025.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this
European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references
concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN
member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by
translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management
Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2025 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN 18092:2025 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references. 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 Recycling pathways . 8
4.1 General . 8
4.2 EPS non-virgin materials . 9
4.2.1 EPS-0 (in-house scrap) . 9
4.2.2 rEPS-1 (recycled expanded polystyrene). 9
4.2.3 rEPS-2 (recycled expandable polystyrene) . 10
4.2.4 General . 10
4.2.5 Shredding. 10
4.2.6 Extrusion . 10
4.2.7 Dissolution . 10
4.3 Chemical recycling pathways . 10
4.3.1 General . 10
4.3.2 Depolymerisation . 10
4.3.3 Thermolysis . 10
5 General design principles for EPS raw material . 11
5.1 Additives . 11
5.2 Recyclability of an EPS insulation product . 11
Bibliography . 12

European foreword
This document (EN 18092:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 88 “Thermal
insulating materials and products”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.
This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an
identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by April 2026, and conflicting national standards shall be
withdrawn at the latest by April 2026.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN by the European
Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these requests for its
Member States.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body.
A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the
following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North
Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United
Kingdom.
Introduction
The term “design for recycling” is used in various contexts. It might encourage the development of
products in a way that they can easily be recycled. However, in the construction industry, products
generally need to align with requirements from National Regulations on essential characteristics as
described in harmonized product standards. To enable the declaration of these characteristics, various
data may be gathered and assessed, including data for raw material that is the starting point for these
products. If it becomes important to change the raw material and/or the product itself to enhance its
recyclability, an evaluation should be made to determine if this change impacts any of the previously
mentioned requirements. All the processes described above to maintain the safe use of building products
still have to be taken into account.
Another key difference from e.g. the consumer goods industry is the duration of use of construction
applications. Plastics used in construction sometimes remain there for the entire life of the building,
which can be decades and even more than a hundred years. This implies that recycling of the construction
materials after use does not take place until much later, which is why there are only small quantities
available from demolition that can be added to new applications as recycled materials. Nevertheless, the
recycling rate can be increased by ensuring that other waste streams are also accepted as recycled content
so that they can contribute to a circular economy. In the production of EPS products, the use of recycled
material is common practice for years long before the recycling discussion was opened. Driver for that
was the avoidance of waste or recovery of waste. This means, the currently existing applications are
already designed in a way that they can accept a certain amount of recycled material while still satisfying
the requirements for construction works.
The term “rEPS” according to the standardization request M/584 should be understood as material being
an outcome of a recycling process. It is not be confused with an expanded polystyrene insulation product
which is produced from a rEPS raw material.
In the context of EPS recycling, EPS scrap generated in the factory cutting lines are routinely returned to
the moulding process even if, according to the Waste Framework Directive (WFD 2008/98/EC), it has no
waste status. Clean off cuts from construction sites can meet the same quality criteria as in-house scrap.
The same technical procedures can be used regardless of the origin of the material.
For these reasons, the purposes of this document DfR can also be used to evaluate how past EPS
insulation-based application and materials can be recycled, as well as future construction techniques and
materials. Future recycling processes even might be able to recycle products which are formerly produced
with ingredients which are not used anymore. However, this is not requested by the SReq.
1 Scope
This document specifies the general “design for recycling” guidelines for EPS raw materials. It provides
guidance on the impact of specific design characteristics on the recyclability of the product in practice and
recommended design options to ensure that the product is recyclable, including target values and
performance ranges, where applicable. It also provides a definition of recyclable product and of design
for recycling.
This document refers to EPS thermal insulation products but may be used for other EPS construction
products where appropriate.
This document refers to the recycling processes of EPS insulation products. The sorting and collecting
steps are not part of this document.
This document takes into account all currently known recycling processes that are suitable to enable the
circular economy for insulation materials. Particular attention is paid to ensuring that the most energy-
efficient processes are given preference, especially mechanical recycling.
For some of these processes, practical experience has been gained over many years, so a basic knowledge
base for the development of a guideline is already available.
At the same time, it is important to also take into account future-oriented processes, for which at the
moment little but increasing experience is available or which have so far only been implemented on a
small scale.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp/
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
3.1
EPS raw material
expandable polystyrene
primary or secondary material in the form of granulates with blowing agent that is used to produce an
EPS product
3.2
EPS construction product
expanded polystyrene product used for the insulation of buildings or for civil engineering applications
3.3
EPS-0
material resulting from shredding in-house scrap
3.4
recycled polystyrene
rPS
outcome of the recycling process which may previously have been PS, EPS raw material, EPS products,
rPS raw material, rEPS raw material or recycled rEPS products
Note 1 to entry: rPS is an intermediate product used for the next production of rEPS raw material but can also be
used for the production of other polystyrene-based applications.
3.5
recycled expandable or expanded polystyrene
rEPS
non-virgin material coming from waste used for the production of EPS products
3.5.1
recycled expanded polystyrene
rEPS-1
material resulting from shredding EPS waste
3.5.2
recycled expandable polystyrene
rEPS-2
raw material obtained by extrusion of rPS with the addition of additives
3.6
recyclability
potential of items or materials to be recycled as defined by the relevant standards and regulations in force
3.7
design for recycling
DfR
gui
...