Page 32 from: Summer issue 2018

Smiles show orders are
flooding back
Sales of recycling equipment worldwide are
soaring and the latest IFAT trade show was
clear proof of that trend. Boosted by the
growing appetite for higher quality scrap,
multi-million Euro contracts were signed at the
Munich event.
A U T H O R Kirstin Linnenkoper & Martijn Reintjes
32
Only two years ago, at IFAT 2016,
recycling machinery and technology
suppliers were in the midst of a strug-
gle to survive. Because of low com-
modity prices and economic uncer-
tainty, recyclers postponed investment
in new equipment.
But all that has now changed for the
better. At this year’s IFAT trade show,
many equipment manufacturers were
smiling from ear to ear. ‘For us, this is
the best IFAT ever,’ said one shredder
producer. ‘Business is so good, we can
hardly keep up with demand,’ was the
view of a material handler supplier.
GOLDEN DEAL
‘The market is booming, everybody
seems to be in a good mood,’ con-
firmed Peter Funke, ceo of magnetic
and sensor sorting solutions provider
Steinert.
His sales team experienced a flying
start of the IFAT trade show, Funke
told Recycling International, with one
customer signing a Euro 2 million con-
tract. ‘This morning, the owner of a
big Japanese scrap yard arrived at our
stand. He already knew our technolo-
gy because he’d bought a Steinert
machine a couple of years ago.
‘Now he was back, asked some ques-
tions, asked for an offer and the next
thing he said was ‘deal’. We are so
excited,’ said Funke.
Steinert has many more orders on the
books, according to Funke, including an
advanced sensor-based sorting line as
part of a light packaging recycling facili-
ty underway ‘somewhere’ in Germany.
‘It is a multi-million Euro project, and we
will provide robotic and sensor-based
technology,’ he added.
NEW REALITY
China closing its borders for certain
scrap materials is creating new mar-
kets at home in Europe and North
America, according to Funke. ‘I see a
clear trend towards more purity,’ he
said. ‘Recyclers in Europe are aware
that investing in technology is the only
way forward in order to get a cleaner
product. This will create an even wider
market in the long term.’
MORE INVESTMENT NEEDED
Indeed, much more money will be
invested in sorting and recycling pro-
cesses in Europe in order to improve
the quality of the raw materials that
can be recovered, according to waste
management and recycling giant
Remondis.
This is the only way, the company pro-
claimed at IFAT, that recycled raw
materials can become an attractive
alternative for manufacturers ‘both
from point of view of price and quality
and to make it easier for them to get
hold of the supplies they need’.
Remondis is currently investing in a
number of facilities, including a new
plant for recycling polystyrene and
other plastics at its plant in Lippe,
Germany. It is due to be commis-
sioned by the end of 2018 will be able
to handle 20 000 tonnes of plastics
per year, most of which will come from
e-scrap recycling processes.
The company believes new systems
will be needed to recycle PE, PP and
PET plastics over the medium term if
recycling rates are to reach the 100%
mark and the environmental pollution
caused by plastic waste is to be effec-
tively tackled.
Remondis used the IFAT stage to back
calls for an ecodesign directive for all
EU member states. The company also
announced it will begin testing a
‘state-of-the-art’ robotic picking sys-
tem in collaboration with the
Doppstadt firm. This fully automated
sorting technology, produced by
OP-teknik of Sweden, will be tested at
Remondis’ subsidiary Reterra in west-
ern Germany.
WANTED: TALENTS
While recycling equipment sales are
booming, machinery and technology
suppliers are being confronted with a
serious and growing problem: how to
recruit qualified people.
‘We need specialists and we need
them now,’ lamented Ferdinand
Doppstadt, managing director of
German recycling machinery producer
Doppstadt. ‘At the moment, finding
the right people is one of the biggest
challenges for our industry,’ he told
Recycling International.
At IFAT, Doppstadt occupied several
stands, one of which was dedicated to
recruitment. ‘Engineers, mechanics,
good sales people: I would rather see
them start today than tomorrow,’ said
Doppstadt.
Doppstadt is not the only company
searching for talented and educated
young people. ‘We are always in need
of specialists, be they engineers or
mechanics,’ confirmed Steinert’s Peter
Funke.
The Cologne-headquartered firm has
established an in-house education
programme, called Steinert University,
in which employees are trained. ‘It is
one way to get in qualified people but
it is not enough,’ Funke stressed.
‘Now that business is booming again,
the need for extra workforce has
become more urgent.’
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