With Sutco RecyclingTechnik´s successful completion of the largest and most modern sorting facility for light packaging in Europe, “SITE ZERO“, the first bales of recycled material have been produced. Up to 100 technicians worked on the site in Motala, Sweden, from May 2022 to December 2022.
HYPER-ACCURATE ASSEMBLY
The “SITE ZERO“ project presented a number of challenges to the experienced installation team: not only does the plant cover an area of more than 20,000 m², but in addition, the existing hall only had nine metres of clear headroom available. In several areas, the restricted space had to be made use of down to the last millimetre. Several assembly teams were always deployed in parallel. Through their efforts, two screening drums, more than 30 NIR sorting devices and an incredible 270 conveyor belts were successfully and safely assembled.
“We are proud to have completed the installation of this plant. It was an exciting challenge, but thanks to our strong team and good collaboration with our customer, Svensk Plastatervinning, we managed to complete our task with the greatest success,” says Naemi Denz, Managing Director of Sutco RecyclingTechnik.
UNIQUE AGGLOMERATE PRODUCTION FACILITIES
The LWP sorting plant relies completely on the use of next-generation NIR sorting devices: manual sorting is no longer needed. This is made possible by an innovative process design that Sutco developed together with the customer for over a year in advance. The plant is able to separate waste into 12 different materials, including LDPE, HDPE, PP and PET, PP foil, PS and EPS. A particular highlight is the direct processing of mixed plastics into high-quality agglomerates through flexible and intelligent post-sorting. This procedure is unique in the world to date and significantly reduces the proportion of residues.
SUTCO BUNKER MANAGEMENT AND NEW SPEED DRIVE CONVEYOR INCREASE THROUGHPUT
Alongside Sutco bunker management to produce optimal bales, this plant sees the first ever use of Sutco’s newly developed Speed Drive Conveyor in combination with Speed Air NIR sorting devices by TOMRA. This allows a significantly increased throughput in the sorting of foil and reduces the number of NIR sorting devices needed. The benefit for customers is thus twofold.
After hot commissioning, the first bales ran off the mega-facility’s lines in the 2nd week of February. ““SITE ZERO“ is a milestone for Sutco and an important contribution to our vision of a sustainable, efficient circular economy. We are glad to be able to complete the plant together with our customer in the next project phase,” adds Naemi Denz.