SUSTAINABILITY | INNOVATION
Plastics recycling must be made to work
With the public eye focused firmly on plastics’ sustainability, the plastics industry has become very busy with projects and new technology to enable injection moulders to increase their use of recyclate. By Peter Mapleston
The plastics industry is in the courtroom of public opinion. It has an urgent need to demonstrate that plastics and environmental protection are compat- ible. Yes, plastics are often a solution to problems such as automobile emissions and food waste, but issues like plastics waste reduction (if not preven- tion), collection, recovery, and recycling are in desperate need of resolving. The circular economy will be one of the key
topics at the K 2019 plastics and rubber exhibition in Düsseldorf in October. Of all the issues men- tioned above, the one that the plastics industry has the most control over is recycling. Recycling rates are on the rise – post-industrial and post-consumer – but more clearly needs to be done. In recent weeks, several equipment makers
operating in the injection moulding field have been drawing back the curtains on developments to be unveiled at the show which they hope will go some way to addressing the recycling problem. Injection World looks at some of them here.
Upcycling Many packaging products have relatively short lifetimes. So, asks KraussMaffei, why not reuse them as raw material for new high-performance articles? At K 2019 in October, the company will show how recyclate derived from polypropylene buckets can be used to make a premium-quality
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automobile A-pillar cover with an over-moulded fabric surface. The company is taking a shortcut at K by recycling the buckets immediately after they are moulded, but the concept appears solid. The buckets will be produced on one of KM’s
latest injection moulding machines, an 11,000 kN GX 1100 (see p37). They will then be shredded externally and “upcycled” into a new “recom- pound” in a ZE 28 BluePower twin-screw com- pounding extruder from what used to be Krauss- Maffei Berstorff (which was recently fully merged into KraussMaffei). KM uses the brand name Edelweiss-Compounding for its solution for direct conversion of reclaim material into high-quality compounds. Pigments and talc are added to the flakes to create a compound with properties suitable for the new application. After underwater pelletising and drying, the
recompound is ready for processing. A material feeder will convey the pellets to an all-electric PX 320 injection moulding machine, which will mould the A-pillar cover over-moulded with a fabric layer. “Edelweiss-Compounding is intended to make on-site compounding more attrac- tive to recycling companies and plastics manufacturers,” says Matthias Sieverding, President of the Extrusion Technology Segment at KraussMaffei. “KraussMaffei is aware of its responsibility and, as one of the world market leaders, wants to
July/August 2019 | INJECTION WORLD 21
Images above and below left: Engel will be showing products containing recyclate at K2019
PHOTO: ENGEL
PHOTO: ENGEL
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