‘Welcome to the biggest plastics recycling plant in Italy,’ said Willi Stadler at the first plant tour of Iren Ambiente’s recently opened site in Turin. The ceo of Stadler Anlagenbau GmbH is proud his company will enable Iren to process 100 000 tonnes of mixed plastic packaging and cans per year.
Stadler invited a group of international journalists to come tour the new facility last week. ‘Iren’s Circular Plastics hub is helping Italy close the loop by sending up to 80% of incoming mixed waste to recycling plants,’ Recycling International heard.
A total of EUR 48 million was invested in the new recycling facility, which is situated in the Alps. It employs a workforce of 40, operating in two shifts per day, seven days per week.
Sorting 17 materials
The tour demonstrated how the plant sorts 17 types of materials, including polymers, aluminium and ferrous scrap. This is important because Iren has been struggling to tackle highly contaminated waste streams.
‘We specialise in recycling plastic packaging,’ notes plant manager Massimiliano Gunari. ‘In reality, consumers tend to send any type of plastic our way. Spoons, electric tooth brushes, kid’s toys, you name it. Is the outside made of plastic? We receive it all!’
He points out that some municipalities in the area have particularly high contamination rates of up to 45%. ‘We’ve even encountered a dead sheep in our collection truck,’ Gunari says.
The most memorable moment was when the crew spotted a python slithering through the waste two years ago. ‘I made a quick call to animal rescue services,’ he adds with a laugh. ‘It goes to show you never know what you’re going to find!’
Advanced sorting tech
A distinguishing feature of the plant is a recycling line dedicated to fine material below 18mm. It yields premium quality recycled plastic following rigorous screening and separation by Stadler technology. The latter is a combination between ballistic sorting, magnetic sorting and optical sorting powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Meanwhile, the medium-sized material is split into two lines, each with a STADLER STT5000 ballistic separator. They sort both 2D and 3D material. The 2D stream goes through six optical separators to sort films into PP, PE and bio-film.


Ganuri explains that ferrous material is first removed from the 3D stream. Subsequently, the fractions go through an optical sorters into clear PET, blue PET, coloured PET, opaque PET and trays.
In parallel, HDPE, PS and PP fractions are sorted on a second line. The output of the two 3D lines comes together for the extraction of clean aluminium particles.
Ganuri points out that all residual materials from the 2D and 3D lines go through a second sorting process. This way, Iren is able to recover any valuable materials left.
Demonstrating success
‘It’s exciting to walk around the facility and see how our team’s hard work has paid off,’ says Julia Stadler, who is in charge of digital solutions at her family company. ‘This is my first time here in Turin as well. We have so many plants worldwide, it’s impossible to see them all immediately. It’s good to visit and see the plant with your own eyes, though. This press tour is a great reason to have the whole team here.’
She echoes her father’s sentiments that close collaboration and consulting is the key to success. ‘Also, gaining insights into your plant is becoming ever more important,‘ Stadler notes. Data is everything, right? My digital solutions department is eager to make operating a plant easier by offering Stadler Connect.’
The AI-driven system can detect blockages while analysing bales and predicting maintanence. ‘Did you know that around 40% of downtime at plants are caused by blockages? There is either too much material or the wrong material together,’ she notes.
By helping recyclers solve these practical issues, Stadler is ensuring their equipment is running smoothly, without unncessary interruptions. ‘We want to do more than simply deliver a plant. We want all assets to be running at optimal level.’
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