Waste management firm Viridor has invested 1 million to upgrade the HDPE sorting line at its Skelmersdale, Lancashire polymer recycling facility.
The news comes after it was revealed that the company is investing a further 15 million to develop an advanced polymer separation plant in Rochester, Kent, designed to enhance the quality of the recovered plastic it produces (see letsrecycle.com story).
Viridor has installed an advanced flake optical sorting station at the Skelmersdale plant, which it claims will increase the yield of valuable HDPE natural grade it is able to produce on site.
The facility at Skelmersdale recycles 36,000 tonnes of plastic bottles from commercial and local authority sources per year, producing plastic pellet and flake ready for use in remanufacture.
The new flake sorter is made up of two state-of-the-art optical sorters which accurately remove non-natural HDPE flakes; typically between 2mm and 12mm in size, in the HDPE product stream at a throughput rate of 2 tonnes per hour.
The optical sorting station was supplied by Bhler Sortex which has also supplied other technology at the polymer recycling facility. The equipment produces a high purity natural HDPE and a coloured HDPE that can be compounded into black pellet.
Quality
Stuart Kershaw, trading sales manager for plastics at Viridor, said: The investment in this advanced flake sorting station came as a result of a UK market requirement for a consistent volume of HDPE natural compound. This can be used for a variety of colour critical extrusion/blow moulding applications, including conduit, sheet, wood polymer composite and bottles.
Our latest investment underlines our commitment to quality and innovation in recycling. As a business, Viridor is aiming to reduce export reliance with a focus on providing high quality polymer for use within the demanding UK market. Our continuous supply of HDPE natural is unique within this country.
Viridor first began operating the Lancashire facility when it bought plastics recycling firm Intercontinental Recycling Ltd for 8.1 million in cash in July 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The facility first opened in October 2007 with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes-per-year, and was hailed as one of the largest plastic bottle recycling plants in the country at that time (see letsrecycle.com story).
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Gary Welsh, general manager at Viridors polymer recycling facility added: Advanced recycling facilities such as the plant at Skelmersdale require continuous review to meet the demands of a changing market for quality recyclate products. This new piece of equipment is changing what we do as a business and adding to our product range so that we can flex to meet the needs of our customers.
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