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NEW SHREDDER TURNS FURNITURE SCRAP INTO BIO-
MASS
Recycling solutions provider Andritz has completed the start-up of a new
shredder at the Kinnarps furniture production plant in Kinnarp, south
Sweden. The Andritz Universal Shredder FRP type 2000P is capable of pro-
cessing up to four tonnes of wood waste per hour from the facility. The
material is then used as biomass to generate heating for the entire Kinnarp
area. The FRP2000P is a powerful single-shaft shredder with a large cutting
surface area and unique cutting geometry that enables the one-step pro-
cessing of waste as well as the removal of metal parts. The cutting system
consists of overlapping knives to ensure uniform breakdown of materials
and consistent particle sizes.
The FRP2000P replaces a pre-shredder and a hammer mill as the customer
was previously forced to shred the wood waste in a two-step process. The
scope of delivery also included supplying an input hopper and a discharge
screw conveyor.
Kinnarps is a major supplier of complete interior design solutions for offices,
schools and health care, with operations in 40 countries and a group turn-
over of EUR 400 million. The entire value chain is said to be notable for high
quality and low environmental impact – from raw materials to the finished
solutions. Kinnarps was founded in 1942 and is a wholly family-owned com-
pany with manufacturing facilities in Sweden.
AUSTRALIA EYES INVESTORS TO HELP BOOST RECY-
CLING RATES
Australia has launched a A$ 100 million (EUR 61 million) fund to help boost
the country’s recycling rates and encourage innovation to keep recyclable mate-
rials out of landfill.
The Australian Recycling Investment Fund is part of a A$ 167 million govern-
ment plan to reduce plastic pollution and cut food waste in half by 2030,
according to the Australian Finance Ministry. The government-established Clean
Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will manage the fund.
Ministers say the it will also further the government’s commitment to banning
the export of scrap such as plastic, paper, glass, and tyres while building
Australia’s domestic recycling capacity.
The investment will support waste and recycling technologies while also attract-
ing buy-in from the private sector and other financing partners. The CEFC is
seeking proposals for commercial projects to address Australia’s recycling and
waste challenges.
UNILEVER PACKAGING PRAISED BY
RECYCLERS
Unilever has been praised for the recyclability of one
of its leading brands – the Cremissimo ice cream pack-
aging – and been awarded a ‘Made for Recycling’ seal
of approval.
The accolade was established by Interseroh, part of the
Alba group, in partnership with the German bifa envi-
ronmental institute, who came up with a set of criteria
for recycling with a maximum of 20 possible points.
Only products achieving 18 points or more achieve the
title: Cremissimo was awarded 19 points.
The ice cream packaging is made from 100% polyole-
fins without the usual product protection barriers which
frequently making recycling harder. According to the
assessment, Unilever’s packaging provides optimum
product protection without such barriers and is also
reusable for the storage of other food products.
‘We are working on the development and implementa-
tion of sustainable solutions every day. The Made for
Recycling seal from Interseroh provides us with great
confirmation that we’re on the right track,’ says
Susanne Lutkat, category business team leader, dessert
and tea at Unilever. ‘In addition to the reduction of
new plastic during the manufacturing of packaging, our
top priority is to increase its recycling capability, and –
where possible – to work with mono materials,’ she
adds.
Markus Müller-Drexel, managing director of Interseroh,
says the ‘Made for Recycling’ service provides busi-
nesses with tangible opportunities for successfully rec-
onciling the increased requirements in terms of prod-
uct protection and closed-loop circulation. ‘Simple
changes also have a positive impact on the recycling
capability of packaging,’ he adds.
How ‘Made for Recycling’ works
There is a three-stage points system. In the first stage,
it is determined whether the consumer can assign the
packaging to the right collection system without any
problems. In the second stage, how the packaging per-
forms during the sorting is assessed. In the third stage,
an evaluation takes place as to how suitable the pack-
aging is for recycling, or whether labels, colours or bar-
riers make the recycling process more difficult.
MULTI-MILLION FUNDING FOR PYROWAVE’S CHEMICAL PROCESS
Plastics recycling pioneer Pyrowave is one of 14 Canadian tech companies to benefit from a
total of EUR 32 million from a government foundation backing innovative clean technologies.
Pyrowave will receive over EUR 3.7 million, according to Navdeep Bains, Canadian minister of
innovation, science and economic development. The ‘strategic investment’ comes from
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to enhance the company’s chemical plas-
tic-to-plastic recycling process.
Pyrowave has developed a cutting-edge technology that regenerates post-consumer plastics by
breaking them down at the molecular level. Doing so reduces them to their basic constituents –
monomers – which can be used to make new resins said to be identical to virgin plastics.
Pyrowave is targeting mixed plastics containing hard-to-recycle plastics such as multi-layer plastic
films and flexible packaging.
‘The Federal government has been an early supporter of chemical recycling technology, which
has propelled us to achieve success in recycling polystyrene (PS) into new plastic, a breakthrough
in the industry,’ says Pyrowave ceo Jocelyn Doucet. ‘We are thrilled to see this commitment
renewed to further develop our unique technology platform to provide a one stop shop for PP,
PE and PS recycling.’
Leah Lawrence, SDTC president and ceo, says ‘Canadian cleantech entrepreneurs are tackling
problems across Canada and in every sector. I have never been more positive about the future.’
PACKAGING GIANT WARNS OF PLASTIC CONTAMINA-
TION IN THE UK
The impact of plastic waste contaminat-
ing paper and cardboard recycling
streams has been set out starkly by lead-
ing packaging company DS Smith.
The company has revealed that the larg-
est mill in the UK, at Kemsley in Kent,
measured enough plastic contamination
in paper and cardboard materials bound
for recycling to fill nearly five million black bin bags in a single year. DS Smith
says the figure, based on tests using near-infrared technology, underlines the
issue of rogue plastic and emphasises the importance of quality controls across
the recycling industry.
The company uses the measurement tools to assess the quality of material arriv-
ing from household and commercial collections so it can identify the worst
offenders and work with them to make improvements.
SEPARATE COLLECTIONS VITAL
Jochen Behr, head of recycling for DS Smith, says the equipment allows the
company to be more forensic about the quality of material it processes in the
UK. ‘We have argued for many years on the importance of quality material for
recycling and the importance of separate collections to ensure that paper and
cardboard can be easily recycled, underpinning their qualities as important con-
tributors to the circular economy.’ Paper and card are more likely to be contami-
nated by plastics when materials such as glass, cans, paper and plastics are col-
lected together, as opposed to segregated collections. The company is calling
for more local authorities to adopt collections where these materials are sepa-
rated. DS Smith says that feeding information back to the initial source point of
materials and offering advice will ultimately reduce the risk of contamination by
plastics and other materials. Its recent ‘Tipping Point’ report warned the UK
would miss its 2035 65% recycling target by more than a decade.
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