Metals giant Sims has unveiled a significant investment in post-shredder technology which, it claims, will help vehicle dismantlers to meet European end-of-life vehicle recycling targets.
By allowing the recovery of more of the metals, plastics and other materials that are left after an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) has been shredded, Sims said the authorised treatment facilities (ATFs) which supply it with ELVs are a step closer to reaching their target of recovering 85% of each ELV.
Currently, ATFs face difficulties meeting the 85% goal because, while 81% of the weight of an ELV is assumed to be recovered from depollution and shredding under protocols developed in 2005, additional material has to be extracted from post-shredder residue. There are currently 1,400 ATFs in the UK.
The issues faced when recovering this material have been specifically cited by the government as the reason why the UK has failed to meet the overall 85% ELV recovery target in the past (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, Sims this week revealed that it was now able to credit each of its ATF suppliers with a further 23 kilograms of material towards the 85% goal, on top of the 81% assumed under protocols.
The company claimed this was in addition to meeting the 85% goal for vehicles it depollutes directly, with the additional 23kg representing an over-achievement on our part.
And, it said that further investment in post-shredder technology meant it would be able to increase this to around 40kg per ELV. This would equate to the additional 4% of recovery that ATFs which cant recover beyond the 81% protocol need in order to meet the 85% goal.
Sims group business development manager, Simon Palmer, said: We are pleased to be able to provide this 23kgs credit to our suppliers, but that is just the start.
Innovative separation technologies on the latest plant are demonstrating ever greater recovery rates; commissioning is almost complete and we anticipate being able to achieve recovery rates in the region of 40kgs per ELV.
Technology
Mr Palmer told letsrecycle.com that the technology used to recover more post-shredder residue also known as automotive shredder residue was essentially lots of screening followed by combinations of differing separation techniques on the different size fractions.
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However, he said he was unable to reveal more details on the specific technologies due to the investment the company had made on research and development.
Sims did stress that it was continuing to invest heavily in the evolution of its shredder residue separation plants, which were now in their third generation and as such was confident about the future.
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