Mixed household hard plastic waste

Shredding and recycling rigid plastics

Information on the processing of rigid plastic post-consumer and post-industrial waste and packaging

Rigid plastics are so-called non-packaging plastics produced through various thermoforming processes. They include products such as buckets, watering cans, flower pots, pasta strainers, garden furniture and laundry baskets, which are used in private households. The industrial sector also uses hard plastics such as plastic pallets, trash containers, waste garbage cans and pipes.

All too often, discarded plastics mistakenly end up in the residual waste garbage can, in the packaging recycling bin (so-called "Gelber Sack") or in bulky waste. It is not uncommon for them to be incinerated to generate energy. In this way, they lose their recycling potential. The better solution is the recycling of post-consumer and industrial rigid plastics. The first step towards sustainable processing is shredding with WEIMA shredders to produce high-quality recyclate – the basis for all products made from recycled plastics.

Proven shredders for rigid plastics

WEIMA customer installations on rigid plastic applications can be found worldwide. Our references include well-known companies such as Veolia in Sweden and SUEZ in Germany.

What are rigid plastics?

In German-speaking countries, rigid plastic waste is understood to mean in particular larger, voluminous plastic residues that are not disposed of in the yellow bag. These include plastic toys, sandboxes, canisters, bowls and laundry tubs. They can usually be dropped off free of charge at recycling and reclamation centers.

Their sturdy and usually rigid shape makes them usable for longer while being comparatively lightweight and easy to manufacture. The biggest advantage, however, is certainly their recyclability, provided used plastics are disposed of correctly.

In the USA, rigid plastics also include many types of rigid packaging, such as cups, trays and boxes used to transport food, but more on this later.

Mixed household hard plastic waste

Post-consumer rigid plastic waste

What material are rigid plastics made of?

  • PE (Polyethylene)
  • HDPE (High-density Polyethylene)
  • PP (Polypropylene)
  • PS (Polystyrene)
  • PET (Polyethylene terephthalat)
  • PA (Polyamide)
  • PC (Polycarbonate)
  • ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer)
  • PVC (Polyvinyl chloride)

Rigid plastics can be produced from thermoplastics using various processes: Toys and car parts, for example, are manufactured by injection molding. Bottles and containers are produced by blow molding. And large hollow bodies such as industrial drums or water storage tanks are produced by rotational melting.

About 65% of the rigid plastics fraction consists of polyolefins such as PP, PE and HDPE.
Source: Plastics Cluser

Which materials and products do not belong to classic hard plastic recycling?

At many collection points, such as recycling centers, some plastic types and products are not accepted that are unusable for classic rigid plastic recycling. These include cables and cable ducts, films, flooring, automotive parts, nets and hoses, but also small-volume packaging such as yogurt cups or PET bottles. Materials such as PVC, PA, ABS, PET, GRP and PC are also frequently rejected.

If the above-mentioned materials accumulate in industry as production waste, they can of course still be recycled on site. For this purpose, we recommend so-called in-house recycling. We also offer the appropriate shredder for this as part of a processing line.

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Closing bottle caps before shredding

Plastic bottle lids and caps

Rigid Packaging

In contrast to flexible packaging (e.g. tubes, bags, films), packaging made of rigid plastic offers better protection for the contents. In the era of to go, take away and delivery services, rigid packaging serves as spill protection for liquid contents. Fragile items are also often packaged in rigids.

In the United States, people do not separate small packaging (yogurt cups, plastic bottles, milk and juice canisters, caps and lids) from the typical rigid plastics known in Germany. There, all recyclable plastic waste from the consumer goods sector is collected together and recycled, provided it has been disposed of in recycling garbage cans.

Awareness of the circular economy is steadily increasing. In 2016, for example, U.S. residents recycled more than 660,000 tons of rigid plastics (Source).

Mixed rigid hard plastic packaging scrap

Rigid packaging plastic waste

Polypropylene hard plastic cups

PP plastic cups

Shredded polypropylene yoghurt cups

Shredded PP post-consumer cups

hard plastic yoghurt cups in a shredder

PP yoghurt cups being shredded

Rigid packaging before shredding

Post-consumer plastic packaging

The variety of rigid plastics

  • Water barrels, canisters, buckets
  • Vats, fruit crates, folding baskets
  • Composters, garden furniture, watering cans
  • Sandbox toys, bobbycars, clothes hangers
  • Plastic pallets, containers, IBCs
  • Big boxes, paloxes, window frames
  • Suitcases, child seats

These and other products reflect the forms and variety of rigid plastics in industry as well as in private households.

Challenges in rigid plastics recycling

Plastic waste is often a diverse mixture of different polymers. They have to be separated into fractions. After use and due to joint collection, used plastics are often heavily soiled or contaminated, for example with soil and sand. It is not uncommon for products to also contain embedded metal such as aluminum, copper or iron.

A classic example is the toy car with rigid axles made of iron, which must be removed from the plastic during the recycling process.

Rigid plastics toy car before shredding

Plastic toy car

Did you know?
Throughout Germany, nearly 3 million tons of plastic are recycled each year. From this, about 1.9 million tons of recyclate can be produced after the removal of impurities and color sorting.

Source: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Industry example: WEIMA W5.18 single-shaft shredder with hydraulic drive shreds trash cans

Customer reference: kayaks on the recycling wave

In Exeter, UK, the company Devon Contract Waste recycles a wide variety of hard plastics. These include not-so-common items such as fuel tanks, kayaks and road cones. Central components of the two-stage recycling plant are a WEIMA WLK 1500 single-shaft shredder and a WSM granulator / granulator.

Learn more.

Two-stage shredding plant with WEIMA WLK 1500 single-shaft shredder and Neue Herbold granulator

Two-stage shredding

The neue Herbold granulator acts as the secondary shredder after magnetic separation

Secondary shredder and metal separation

Recycling machinery with suction sytem

Recycling plant with extraction system

Transportation and logistics of WEIMA shredder in England

Arrival of WEIMA WLK 1500 shredder

Inquire about a rigid plastics shredder today Request a quote

Recycle rigid plastics instead of incinerating or landfilling

Plastic waste makes up the largest share of waste streams in Germany each year. While landfilling or incineration in waste incineration plants used to be without alternative, many plastics can now be easily recycled. In addition, legislators worldwide are continuously restricting landfilling. The aim of the circular economy is to keep plastics in circulation and recycle them as often as possible. The use of fossil raw materials can thus be significantly reduced. Consequently, the need for sustainable recycling plants is increasing – also for the processing of rigid plastics.

mixed up plastic scrap from households

Rigid plastic household waste collection

Did you know?
In Germany, about 46 percent of the plastic waste generated is recycled, while the rest is landfilled or incinerated for energy recovery.

Source: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

WEIMA W5.18 single-shaft shredder shreds rigid plastic caps for subsequent recycling

How does the shredding of hard plastics work?

Rigid plastics can be fed into the hopper of the WEIMA single-shaft shredder in bulk or in bales by conveyor belt, crane, wheel loader or forklift truck without manual preparation. The plastic is pressed against the rotating rotor by the hydraulic pusher and uniformly shredded to a homogeneous particle size. The screen size used, usually 40 – 80 mm for hard plastics, defines the size of the material to be ground. The material is usually transported by conveyor belt to the next process step, washing, drying, or extrusion.

WEIMA WKS shredder grinding post-industrial plastic trash bins

Rigid plastic waste bins shredding

Shredded rigid hard plastic containers

Granulate from plastic bin shredding

Shredding of various post-consumer hard plastics with a WEIMA shredder

What happens to the shredded rigid plastic?

The complex processing includes not only a robust shredder but also appropriate separation technology such as metal separators or metal detection. After shredding, the plastic flakes are washed in a washing plant and separated into the individual fractions in a sink-float process. These can then be recycled into regranulate in a recycling extruder. The regranulate or reclaim can be used in the manufacture of plastic products such as trash cans, buckets, pallets or containers.

Shredded rigid plastic trash cans

Plastic granulate from rigid garbage cans

Rigid plastics in the plastics cycle

Source: Kunststoffrohrverband e.V. (KRV)

Shredding drinking crates plastic scrap

Plastic beverage crates shredding

Disused trash cans made from plastics before shredded

Wornout plastic garbage bins

Mechanical recycling
After pipes have been collected, sorted and washed, they are reduced to homogeneous regrind with the aid of shredders. From this, high-quality regranulate can be produced using extrusion equipment – the basis for the production of new plastic pipes as recyclate within the in-house recycling process.

Chemical recycling
In contrast to mechanical recycling, chemical reprocessing attempts to return products made from plastics to their chemical raw materials in order to produce new plastics. However, the separated fractions are not completely pure, which can lead to problems with precise formulations.

Heavy duty machine design

WEIMA shredders for processing highly abrasive materials can be protected with various options to reduce wear and thus downtime and maintenance costs. The heavy wall thickness of the machine frame makes WEIMA shredders particularly robust. The rotor can be reinforced with Vautid, the screen with Creusabro. To protect the cutting knives against the impact of foreign objects, large knives with edge lengths of up to 130 mm x 130 mm can be selected. If the number of knives is small. Vautid can also protect knife holders.

To avoid increased wear of the rotor face plates, we recommend the installation of replaceable Creusabro wear plates on both sides. The cutting chamber can also be reinforced and optionally lined with exchangeable Creusabro plates. Wear protection does not stop at the screen, which defines the material size. For particularly high wear, we offer a screen reinforced with Creusabro with a wall thickness of approx. 20 mm.

Vautid jacket on a rotor

WEIMA rotor with Vautid protection

Concha Vautid no rotor PowerLine

Proteção contra o desgaste do rotor Vautid

Proteção contra o desgaste de veículos

Vautid weld-on for shredder rotor

Casco do rotor Vautid

Revestimento de rotor Vautid

ANteção antidesgaste com revestimento de tinta

WEIMA WKS rotor concha vácuo

Proteção contra o desgaste do revestimento do rotor

Revestimento Vautid para pré-triturador

What is Creusabro?
Creusabro is a high performance wear resistant steel. Compared to low alloy wear resistant steels, Creusabro has a higher heat resistance. WEIMA uses Creusabro with a hardness of 58 HRC.

What is Vautid?
Vautid is a buildup welding material that can be applied to components as a welding alloy. In WEIMA shredders, Vautid with 62 HRC is applied.

What is Hardox?
Hardox it an abrasion resistant steel and is mainly used as wear plate with a hardness of up to 600 HBW. Depending on the requirements, different degrees of hardness can be applied.

WLK series: highly productive plastic shredders

Machines of the WLK series are specially designed for plastic applications of all kinds. They are highly robust and durable. S5 and S7 shredders are equipped with an extra-large rotor, making the shredders very flexible to be used for heavy-duty jobs.

To WLK 1500

Näkymä WEIMA WLK 1500 yksiakselisen murskaimen sisäpuolelle

Näkymä WEIMA WLK 1500 -koneen sisäpuolelle

WEIMA single-shaft WLK 4 for plastic waste

WEIMA WLK 4 shredder

WEIMA waste shredder S7 series

WEIMA S7 shredder

Shredding of discarded plastic beverage crates with a WEIMA WLK 1500 single-shaft shredder

W5 series: Maintenance-friendly all-rounders with swing ram

With working widths of 1,400 mm, 1,800 mm or 2,200 mm, the W5 series takes on a wide variety of materials. The inspection flap and the lift-up screen basket make the single-shaft shredder particularly easy to maintain. Thanks to the wide conveyor belt cutout, large quantities of shredded material can be transported away quickly and cleanly.

To W5.18

Sisäkuva WEIMA:n W5.18 yksiakselisesta murskaimesta

Näkymä WEIMA W5 -murskaimen sisälle

Best suited for hard plastics – the V rotor

The V rotor, specially developed by WEIMA, can be used universally and is made of solid material. Its aggressive material feed guarantees high throughput with low power requirements. Hardened steel cutting knives and adjustable counter-knives ensure the optimum cutting geometry, which can be precisely adapted to the material requirements. The result: homogeneous shredding results, high throughput rates, low energy consumption, resistance to foreign material, and low wear.

WEIMA V-rotor shreds PE-HD pipe cuttings without trouble

WEIMA V-rotor shreds HDPE pipes

Modelos de facas de rotor WEIMA para diferentes tarefas de trituração

Vista geral das facas de rotor WEIMA OEM

PreCut series: For extreme throughput requirements

The PreCut 2000-3000 series is characterized by extremely high throughput rates. PreCut machines are often used as pre-shredders in multi-stage processing plants, but are also suitable as stand-alone solutions. The massive PreCut rotor is particularly resistant to foreign matter thanks to Vautid wear protection. Reinforced side walls make the shredder’s frame extremely solid.

To PreCut series

WEIMA pre-shredder PreCut

WEIMA PreCut single-shaft shredder

Recycling is for the bin

The Swedish company Veolia Recycling Plastics Sweden AB recycles garbage cans and other HDPE plastic waste from production using a WEIMA PowerLine 2500 shredder and downstream washing system.

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PowerLine 2500 shredder from the air at Veolia Sweden

PowerLine 2500 shredder at a plastic recycling plant

PowerLine shredder at Veolia recycling plant in Sweden

WEIMA PowerLine shredder feeding with rigid plastics

Sorted hard plastic waste at Veolia Sweden

Plastic waste bins ready for recycling

PowerLine series: Sharp cuts

The machines of the PowerLine series are universally applicable. Variable equipment and sizes allow an exact adaptation to your special requirements. The counter knives are user-friendly adjustable from the outside and protected by an additional cover plate.

To PowerLine 3000

Shredding process WEIMA PowerLine

WEIMA PowerLine components

WEIMA PowerLine 3000 single-shaft shredder

WEIMA PowerLine shredder

ZM four-shaft shredder: For clean production waste

ZM series machines are ideal for shredding long, bulky and voluminous materials. Their large feed hopper offers sufficient space and can be conveniently filled by hand, conveyor belt or forklift. ZM shredders have a cutting unit with two clearing shafts as well as two cutting shafts, which are characterized by their aggressive material intake. Compared to single-shaft shredders, four-shaft shredders cut at a slower speed and do not have a material pusher. The noise level is correspondingly lower, and the throughput is consistently high. A screen that can be mounted below the cutting unit defines the desired particle size of the output material.

Go to ZM 40

WEIMA ZM four-shaft shredding system with components

WEIMA ZM four-shaft shredder

WEIMA ZM 40 four-shaft shredding system

WEIMA ZM 40 four-shaft shredder

WEIMA ZM 50 four-shaft shredder shreds 220 liter plastic drums

Select your preferred drive:

High-Torque drive

The high-torque, multi-pole synchronous motor from Baumüller is produced in Germany and is characterized by its insensitivity to foreign bodies. Without gears, the drive resists shocks and vibrations and thus has a particularly long service life – even when shredding challenging material streams.

High-torque drive from Baumüller

High-torque drive from Baumüller

Hägglunds hydraulic drive on WEIMA PowerLine 3000

Hägglunds hydraulic drive on WEIMA PowerLine 3000

Hägglunds Hydraulic Drive System on WEIMA PreCut shredder

Powerful hydraulic drive from Hägglunds on a WEIMA PreCut Shredder

Hägglunds hydraulic drive on a WEIMA single-shaft shredder

Hägglunds hydraulic drive in action

Opened inspection flap on the back of the WEIMA PowerLine shredder next to the Hägglunds Bosch Rexroth hydraulic drive

Aba de inspeção de uma destruidora WEIMA PowerLine

Hydraulic drive

Hydraulic drives from Hägglunds / Bosch Rexroth have no gearbox and are therefore particularly insensitive to many contaminants. Speed and torque can be adjusted without current peaks. The robust drive provides high torque at low kW power. The speed can be variably adjusted by means of a regulating pump.

Only at WEIMA

Heavy-duty machine design
for long service life

Large feed hopper
for easy feeding of particularly large hard plastic bales and loose rigid plastics

Easy maintenance
for minimized downtimes

Many drive options
for maximum throughput

Applied know-how
for minimized operating costs

Fast service
for highest customer satisfaction

All from one source:
Machines, conveyor technology, metal detection, support, spare and wear parts for customized solutions

WEIMA shredder with easy maintenance opening

WKS shredder with inspection flap

See for yourself

The WEIMA showroom is equipped with shredding and briquetting machines of all sizes and technologies. This enables us to simulate your application as realistically as possible. You have the possibility to send us your material or visit us directly in Ilsfeld. From our gallery you have the best view directly into the cutting chamber. So you can observe the shredding process live.

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