The recycling company SUEZ officially opened its new sorting plant for lightweight packaging in Ölbronn this week. The reason for this investment, which cost almost 30 million euros, is the new packaging law.
The new legal basis stipulates new recycling quotas: 50 per cent of all lightweight packaging and as much as 58.5 per cent of plastics placed on the market have had to be recycled since the beginning of the year. Against this background, the French environmental services provider's new plant has been sorting almost 200,000 bags per day into 14 different recyclable materials since the beginning of May. The annual capacity amounts to 100,000 tonnes of lightweight packaging.
Industry 4.0 finds its way into sorting
To achieve this volume, the plant relies on largely automated sorting technology. For example, systems are used to implement predictive maintenance, 21 camera-based near-infrared separators for automated sorting of recyclable materials and fully automated weighing and pressing of the sorted recyclable materials. Data transparency plays an overriding role.
Low-noise and low-odour storage in a deep bunker
Unique in Europe for a sorting plant is the material delivery to a 9,000 m³, 8 m deep bunker. Interim storage in the deep bunker is particularly quiet and odourless, fireproof and ensures greater occupational safety thanks to a clear separation between delivery traffic, input management and plant feeding.
„The ambitious construction of Europe's most modern sorting plant for lightweight packaging brings us another step closer to our resource revolution mission. We are planning further commitments to plastics processing in the region, which will materialise in the near future.“
Carsten Dülfer, CEO SUEZ Germany
Source: SUEZ Germany
