SSI SCHAEFER and ENGEL are both committed to establishing a circular economy for the plastics industry and this collaboration along the value chain is being demonstrated at K.
ENGEL is converting post-consumer waste into miniature waste containers on a victory 330/80 injection moulding machine.
For this exhibit, ENGEL is collaborating with SSI SCHAEFER, who is also using greater volumes of recycled material in the production of large waste containers.
“Our customers are increasingly demanding sustainable products that consist to a large extent of recycled plastic waste,” emphasises Fabiano D'Aloia of SSI SCHAEFER, headquartered in Neunkirchen, Germany.
This is made clear by a project that SSI SCHAEFER took on for a major european city. When procuring new waste containers for household waste, the city's central requirement was that recycling material from returned old containers had to be used to manufacture the containers.
13,000 end-of-life polyethylene household waste containers were collected, cleaned, processed into regrind and recycled by SSI SCHAEFER. 2
Produced on ENGEL duo injection moulding machines, 5,000 new containers processed 232 tonnes of recycled material.
SSI SCHAEFER is now delivering more and more waste containers using high recycled content.
Each of the duo machines for SSI SCHAEFER is designed specifically for processing recycled material.
“More than 80 percent is already possible today,” says D‘Aloia. “ENGEL is supporting us with its process engineering experience and plasticising expertise to further increase this value.”