A B S T R A C TThe study of the new structures mainly useful in the synthesis of more efficient and selective new extractants led to the development of new series of macromolecules. Hence, in our present experiment, the expanded polystyrene packaging waste was chemically modified. Then, the functionalization of polystyrene recovered by the direct blending and grafting of a benzenic crown ether group was carried out. The obtained resins were characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray diffraction. The ability to extract metallic cations (Cr 3+ , Fe 3+ , Ni 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Pb 2+ ) contained in an aqueous solution was done by the grafted or ungrafted polymers by crown ethers. Obtained results showed higher extraction percentages for resin 4, thus, suggesting it had important extracting capacity compared with resin 3.