Success Stories

For Immediate Release

Contact: Camille Gallo cgallo@plasticsindustry.org

February 3, 2026

The Polystyrene Recycling Alliance and R3vira Announce Collaboration to Expand Polystyrene Recycling in Mexico City  

Partnership Will Double Collection Infrastructure, Expanding Citywide Coverage in Across Mexico City  

Washington, D.C. – The Polystyrene Recycling Alliance (PSRA), a North American coalition advancing scalable polystyrene (PS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) recycling solutions, today announced a new strategic collaboration with R3vira, a Mexico City-based organization committed to community-driven polystyrene recovery across Latin America’s largest metropolitan area.   

The collaboration supports PSRA’s broader mission to enable a more robust circular economy for polystyrene across North America. By investing in proven collection and processing systems, the initiative demonstrates how polystyrene can be recovered, recycled, and reused when infrastructure and end markets are in place.  

The partnership will enable R3vira to double the collection capacity of its innovative “peque-ruta” (micro-route) system, from 12 to 24 active pathways, increasing recovery and recycling of high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) by 2026.   

“Expanding access to recycling is essential to enabling true circularity for polystyrene,” said Justin Riney, Chair of the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance. “This partnership with R3vira reflects the practical, infrastructure-focused solutions our coalition works to advance—solutions that meet communities where they are and demonstrate how polystyrene can be collected, recycled, and returned to the market as a valuable resource. By pairing strong end markets with innovative, community-based collection models, we’re showing that polystyrene can play a meaningful role in a more inclusive and scalable circular economy.”  

PSRA’s investment will specifically support critical infrastructure enhancements, including densification equipment, expanded warehouse facilities, and workforce development across all 16 boroughs of Mexico City, the largest city in North America. Through R3vira’s established partnership with Resirene, recovered materials will undergo complete closed-loop processing to produce FDA-approved recycled polystyrene resin for direct reintegration into new packaging applications.  

“Partnering with the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance allows us to build on the collection systems we’ve developed over the past five years and take them to the next level,” said Martha Melesio, Founder and Director of R3vira. “With PSRA’s support, we can significantly increase polystyrene recovery volumes, strengthen reliable end-market pathways, and continue creating stable, local jobs tied directly to recycling operations across Mexico City. This collaboration demonstrates how circular economy solutions can deliver both environmental impact and economic opportunity at the community level.”  

This strategic initiative demonstrates how industry collaboration, targeted investment, and end-market demand can accelerate polystyrene circularity—supporting scalable recycling systems and reinforcing polystyrene’s role in a modern circular economy across North America. 

About the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance  

The Polystyrene Recycling Alliance (PSRA) unites the entire polystyrene (PS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) value chain to promote circularity for polystyrene products across North America. PSRA is a self-funded initiative of the PLASTICS Industry Association. Learn more at www.PSRecycling.org.  

About R3vira  

R3vira is a Mexico City–based social enterprise dedicated to reintegrating expanded polystyrene (EPS) into the circular economy through community-centered collection, recycling, and social inclusion programs.  

For more than six years, R3vira has developed and operated an integrated five-step circular model that includes environmental education and outreach, material collection, recycling, product manufacturing, and commercialization.  

Its innovative “peque-ruta” (micro-route) system allows efficient neighborhood-based collection, reducing environmental impact while increasing participation from schools, businesses, organizations, and individual citizens.  

R3vira’s work prioritizes social inclusion by creating employment opportunities for women heads of household, older adults, individuals from vulnerable backgrounds, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, under the guiding principle: “Opportunities outside the standard for people outside the standard.”  

R3vira operates across Mexico City and collaborates with industry, government, schools, and civil society to demonstrate that polystyrene, when properly managed, can be a valuable and fully circular material.  

Learn more at www.r3vira.com.mx.