Vecoplan, Bad Marienberg, Germany, has supplied a shredder from its V-ECO 1300 series – including equipment for conveying, separation and storage – to Michelstadt-based RKW Agri, which specialises in the development and production of high quality plastic film and netting for round balers in agriculture. The company uses film waste from its own production and from various production locations in the RKW Group. Until now, the waste was sent directly to a recycling plant. Now the company has significantly optimised the recycling process by investing in the new system which not only provides RKW with very homogeneous output material, but it also helps the film manufacturer to cut costs, optimise its work processes and increase its production of regenerated material.

“We are going to use the new system to shred all of our film waste and then use it for production,” said Holger Trumpfheller, head of maintenance at RKW Agri. This will include production waste from the site, film waste from other locations of the RKW Group and material purchased from other plastics manufacturers. Most of this is film derived from rolls and bales.

“Using our own regrind helps us to achieve our sustainability goals,” explained Silke Helmstädter, lead buyer for regenerated material at RKW. “As a privately owned company we care about future generations.”

The independent family-owned RKW Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality film solutions. It is the foremost maker of film for use in hygiene, agriculture, beverages and packaging of powdery goods. It also supplies film and non-woven materials for medical applications, the chemicals industry, the manufacturing sector and construction.

In fiscal 2018, RKW reported total revenues of 878 million euros. Each year, its approximately 3000 employees process 367,000t of plastic at the company’s 20 locations worldwide. The V-ECO 1300 has been in operation at RKW Agri’s Michelstadt’s plant since August of this year. www.vecoplan.com

 

Plastic recycled by the new Vecoplan V-ECO at RKW Agri includes loose film as well as entire film bales (pictured), all transformed into homogeneous output material

 

Since the shredder has a higher throughput than the two extruders, the shredded film is temporarily stored in a film silo to ensure continuous feeding

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