Polystyrene is the protective packaging material that encases many parts of our consumer lives.

Photo: RNZ / Simon Morton

Packed within it, everything from TVs, ovens, computers and even meat arrives safely at our doors.

But it's a problematic byproduct of modern life.

In many places around New Zealand you can't recycle it, so it has to be dumped at the tip, or broken into smaller pieces and smuggled into rubbish bags destined for landfill.

Well perhaps no longer!

Richard Moore of Poly Palace in Porirua has hacked together a bunch of old farm machinery, scavenged parts, and even some old rollerblades, to develop a simple solution for recycling polystyrene so it can be resold for road-building and house construction.

Simon Morton visited Richard to see his polystyrene recycling system in action.