Recycling Technology Zone at CHINAPLAS 2016

The Chinese plastics recycling industry faced a difficult year in 2015 as a result of the downward slide of crude oil prices affecting the prices of recycled plastic materials. The Chinese government  also initiated measures to tighten up the handling of waste materials. China customs launched “Operation Green Fence” which further led to stricter testing standards for imported waste and bans the import of all waste that can pollute the environment. In addition, the value-added tax applied on waste materials has been strengthened. Companies located in eco-industrial parks are subject to a closer monitoring for their compliance. All these factors have placed unprecedented pressure to the recycling industry.

But the new measures also serve a wake-up call for those waste plastics processors, urging them to transform and upgrade themselves to a more automated and energy efficient manufacturing in order to stay in the competition.   They also have to strengthen their management, being more aligned with the national policy and improve their technology levels on their products and manufacturing process.

In this light, CHINAPLAS 2016 will gather over 150 exhibitors to feature recycling solutions covering the entire recycling process, from sorting, shredding and cleaning, to dewatering, drying and pelletizing. To facilitate buyers to source a full range of recycling technology, a new zone - Recycling Technology Zone - is set up for the first time to showcase cutting-edge recycling technology from leading companies under one roof. The solutions will help the recyclers and manufacturers in different ways in meeting the challenges.

Recycling of plastic waste generally  undergoes several steps before they become ready for use as raw materials, including sorting, shredding, cleaning, dewatering, drying and pelletizing. Mr. Ning Hong Tao, President of Plastics Recycling Committee of China, Plastics Processing Industry Association pointed out that the development of automatic segregation for mixed plastic waste will be the most important future development for recycling industry in order to solve the problems of traditional segregation methods that overly rely on inefficient manual sorting and chemical separation.

At Recycling Technology Zone, Norway-based firm Tomra Sorting Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. will showcase its AUTOSORT automatic sorting machine. The system can meet a wide variety of sorting needs including the single stream, packaging, paper, and household waste to sort waste based on the color and material information at the same time. Other functions include feedstock amount confirmation, continuous calibration and valve unit control. This sorter can be programmed to recover different materials from feedstock and is capable of sorting to a resolution of 2.5mm.

Shredding is another important process in recycling. Suzhou Dyun Recycling Machinery Co. Ltd. will showcase its DYSSG Pipe Crusher and Shredder Unit at the exhibition. It is able to shred the PE, PP, PVC pipe with diameter of 1200mm. The length of 3-6m pipe can be shredded directly without cutting, while the rotary speed remains slow and stable. Variety of pipes can be put into the flat feeding tank, the tanks will close automatically and then push the pipe by hydraulic into the center axis for shredding. Shredded materials will be sent for secondary crushing to obtain the optimal granular size.

Austrian company EREMA offers innovative and cutting-edge recycling solutions which are uniquely positioned in the market. EREMA will bring the new generation of plastic recycling system with optimized triple degassing - INTAREMA® TVEplus® to the fairground. Thanks to its excellent degassing and filtration performance, this machine can fulfill some applications that the conventional system cannot realize such as heavily printed film, laminated film, aluminum metalized film from the production waste; high contaminated post-industrial plastic waste as well as household plastic waste. The recycled plastics can be up to the standard for the use for blown film. You can find this equipment in the Austrian Pavilion at CHINAPLAS.

Besides making high quality granules, finding the ways to use these recycled materials in environmentally sound ways or for developing new products are equally important to gain differentiation in the market.  For example, wood plastic composites (WPCs) which often contain significant recycled wood or plastic content, offer low maintenance, a strong sustainability story, the replicating look of wood that continues to drive user acceptance.

Zhangjiagang Lianguan Recycling Science & Technology Co., Ltd. will showcase the waste material tray production line which employs a new technique and production process called co-extrusion and press molding for making WPCs, avoiding many drawbacks of the conventional WPCs production processes. The company also provides other recycling solutions such as combining plastic waste with wood, rice bran, straw, etc. to produce décor, fencing and decking for outdoor landscaping.

Other worth seeing exhibits include three-in-one function film recycling granulating extrusion line displayed by Hua Xing Plastic Machinery Co. Ltd. for recycling LDPE, HDPE, PP waste film; plastic recycling machine HNT-V featured by Taiwan's POLYSTAR is designed for the reprocessing of PE polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE) and PP polypropylene flexible packaging material, printed and non-printed; Purui Plastics & Rubber Machinery Co. Ltd.'s ML75 pelletizing machine for film, to name just a few highlights.