A Second Life for Lifesavers

news March 14, 2022

Not all plastics are the same. Some materials pose greater challenges for recycling companies. WEIMA, the shredding specialist from Ilsfeld, has the perfect solutions for all applications. With two WEIMA WLK 15 Jumbo single-shaft shredders, Inoplast Kunststoff GmbH will in the future be able to shred even the most technically demanding raw material for the recycling process.

01

For over ten years, the owner-managed company Inoplast Kunststoff GmbH has specialized in the recycling of a wide range of plastics. The environmentally conscious family business focuses on the purchase and sale of plastic waste, regranulate and regrind but also offers its customers contract processing. 15 employees take care of the entire recycling process: from the purchase of plastic waste, through professional processing, to the sale of the high-quality plastic regranulate. And with success: At the end of June 2019, the operation was significantly expanded. A production hall, warehouses and an office building were built on 10,000 m2 in Windischeschenbach, Bavaria. The course is set for the future.

02

Shredding tear-proof airbags? No problem from now on.

Before the actual recycling process, the delivered plastic waste is checked for impurities as well as foreign objects and, if necessary, pre-sorted according to type. By doing so, Inoplast can guarantee the purity and high quality of the regranulate.

Material before the recycling process

Material before the recycling process

The material recycled at Inoplast reflects almost the entire spectrum of plastics. For example, polyethylenes such as HDPE and LDPE, polypropylene hard plastics, but also many other polyamide polyester-based fibers and textiles in various shapes and sizes are recycled. In the past, the complex recycling of PA airbag laminate posed a great challenge at Inoplast. To protect vehicle occupants in accidents, the material is extremely tear-resistant and therefore very difficult to shred. With WEIMA, the Bavarian recycling company finally found a competent partner to jointly find a solution for this technically demanding application.

03

As an experienced developer and manufacturer of a wide range of shredders for the most diverse materials and tasks, WEIMA offers comprehensive testing and development capabilities. After joint test trials in the show room of the shredding specialist, an individual solution could finally be developed. Two specially manufactured WEIMA WLK 15 Jumbo single-shaft shredders are now expanding the fleet of machines at Inoplast Kunststoff GmbH.

Various shapes and sizes of plastic are recycled
04

WLK 15 Jumbo: High-throughput heavyweight

The machines of the WLK Jumbo series have been setting standards for years in terms of stability, functionality and throughput capacity. A large number of sizes and options guarantee individual customer solutions for almost all applications. The WLK 15 Jumbo is available with two different drive variants: with a robust electromechanical drive or a flexible hydraulic drive. After extensive material tests, the high-throughput hydraulic drive was ultimately chosen. It is particularly insensitive to foreign materials and provides high torques without currency peaks and can be used in flexibly adjustable speed ranges.

The shredded material is discharged with a conveyor belt

The shredded material is discharged with a conveyor belt

Read a similar story on shredding plastic Read Here!
When shredding PA airbag laminate a precise cutting gap is required

When shredding PA airbag laminate a precise cutting gap is required

05

Extensive material tests in the show room for an optimal adaptation

In close cooperation with Inoplast, the equipment of the shredder was modified and optimally adapted to the application. With a working width of 1,500 mm and a rotor diameter of a whopping 500 mm, the WLK 15 Jumbo shreds not only airbags but all kinds of plastic waste with ease. The shredding of polyamide airbag laminate requires a particularly precise cutting gap. The F-rotor, specially developed for shredding films and fibers, ensures optimum cutting geometry with maximum throughput and energy efficiency.

The F-rotor was specially developed for shredding films and fibers

The F-rotor was specially developed for shredding films and fibers

06

Economic AND Ecological

The raw material is fed into the hopper via a tilting system. After shredding, a conveyor belt with an integrated magnetic drum for FE-impurity separation discharges the shredded material from the machine onto the feed belt for the extrusion line. There the material is melted, homogenised and, if necessary, degassed. The melted plastic is cooled in strands in a water bath, cut into the desired granule size and then dried. The resulting regranulate can finally be returned to the raw-material cycle. The customers of Inoplast Kunststoff GmbH are thus able to significantly reduce the proportion of new plastic in production and replace it with recycled material. Consequently, new products can be manufactured economically and in a resource-saving manner. And life-saving airbags are given a second life.

Plastic is fed into the hopper via a tilting system

Plastic is fed into the hopper via a tilting system

Shredded plastic on a conveyor belt

Shredded plastic on a conveyor belt

Extrusion process

Pellets created from shredded material

Contact

Marketing

WEIMA America, Inc.

3678 Centre Circle

Fort Mill, SC 29715

Contact

Additional Information

About WEIMA

More than 40,000 machines sold worldwide! WEIMA has been manufacturing robust shredders and briquetting presses for the disposal and processing of all types of waste for more than four decades. Our machines include single-shaft shredders, four-shaft shredders, cutting mills and briquette presses. The popular blood orange machines are used in the wood, plastics, paper, metal and waste-to-energy industries.

Made in Germany. Built for the world.

Shredders and briquette presses from WEIMA are exclusively made in Germany and come from production plants in Saxony-Anhalt and Baden-Wuerttemberg. Every year, more than 300 employees work on around 1,200 customer solutions from around the globe. We have long-standing sales and service locations in the USA, Poland, India and China. More than 80 representatives supplement this global presence.

Newsletter
Sign-up for our newsletter and get all the latest updates in your mailbox
Sign-up for our newsletter