What do all the technological innovations that have revolutionized our world, such as the iPhone, the internet, or the electric car, have in common? Quite simply, an idea that emerged from the minds of men and women eager to find solutions to phenomena or problems capable of improving our collective quality of life.
In the case of recycling polystyrene and ABS plastic through dissolution, this seemingly “simple” technology, which took 10 years of R&D to bring to commercialization, was developed by the chemist and scientific director of Polystyvert, Roland Côté, PhD in chemistry, entrepreneur, and former professor in the chemistry-biology department at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières. In 2013, Roland began his experiments on the dissolution of polystyrene, knowing it was soluble through the use of solvents. For him, this concept was of paramount importance because polymer recycling was a global issue.
Today, with the full deployment of a first commercial-scale plant in Anjou, Montreal, Polystyvert proudly and emotionally inaugurates the Roland Côté Research and Development Center.
A Pioneer of the Green Economy
Long before we had a demonstration plant, Roland and his team dedicated much time to testing the dissolution of polystyrene to perfect the process and obtain the necessary patents for commercialization, making him a true pioneer in this field, knowing how to combine reduced environmental impacts and profitability. Thus, they laid the foundation for what would become Polystyvert, a rapidly growing company that today has over 30 employees and great ambitions.
Years later, despite the rapid growth we have experienced since those early experiments, one thing remains: our deep passion for technological innovation and our desire to find commercially viable solutions for plastic circularity.
It is in this spirit that we created our research and development laboratory in 2023, led by our vice president of R&D, Nicolas Cottenye, with Roland responsible for scientific recommendations and experiments. Thanks to this facility and the team working there, Polystyvert continues to innovate with the dissolution principle to explore various markets that could open up to us. Moreover, all these efforts are paying off, as we have recently developed a solution for the recycling and circularity of ABS plastic.
Now that we are on the verge of building our first commercial plant, we consider this stage as the culmination of Roland’s idea from 11 years ago. That is why we are very proud to name our laboratory in his honor and thus inaugurate the Roland Côté Research and Development Center.
Thank you, Roland, for your passion and determination, which are at the origin of an idea that is changing the world.
