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Up to 700 tonnes of packaging waste from the yellow bin and the yellow bag pass through interzero's sorting plant in Marl on around 300 conveyor belts every day. CEO Dr Axel Schweitzer also announced the founding of the new group of companies, interzero, during a tour of the plant for members of the press.
Let's start with a few facts and information: It is the Europe's most modern sorting plant and it is particularly characterised by its high flexibility. With near-infrared technology and subsequent separation by air flow interzero in Marl fulfils the requirements of the packaging law with regard to the sorting rate. Each packaging is scanned at least twice.
„The flexibility of the system is reflected in various aspects. Firstly, in the capacity of the storage areas and flow rate - in order to be able to absorb or buffer any larger quantities that may arrive. There are also several process lines, which creates a kind of redundancy that reduces downtime in the event of maintenance or malfunctions by partially stopping the system. The flow can be diverted as required. The high-performance sensors and documentation also mean that we can adapt the system to changing waste flows. This means that foreign material can also be sorted in Marl in addition to the LVP material collected by the dual systems in Germany.“
Stephan Schwarz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Interzero Plastics Recycling GmbH
A total of 16 different fabric groups are sorted here and there is room for more. According to Stefan Leubner, Operations Manager in Marl, they also think about current trends and innovations and have therefore Space reserved for further material flows.
Turning chaos into order
Looking around the 55,000 square metre hall, it is hard to imagine that more conveyor belts could be added here. To the untrained eye, it is a jumble of criss-crossing conveyor belts. The The total length is 10 kilometres and the further you go into the hall, the better you can see the sorted groups of materials.
Even though around 100 employees work here around the clock in shifts, the Packaging separated exclusively from machines. The final manual pickers have also been replaced by robots that sort out the wrong materials.
This produces unmixed bales of PP, PE, composite cardboard or even black plastic. With this group of materials, however, it is noticeable that the The best sorting plant reaches its limits when waste separation in private households does not work. An old video cassette was accidentally disposed of in the yellow bin or the yellow bag and the tapes got tangled up in the system.
Time and again, interzero has to contend with misdirected waste, which can become a real problem. Every year, batteries disposed of via this waste stream cause false alarms and malfunctions. This shows how it is important to educate consumers about correct waste separation and compliance with basic rules. Interzero works together with the “Waste separation works” initiative and the industry association, BDE, among others.
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