Kayaks on the recycling wave

In Exeter, UK, Devon Contract Waste recycles a wide variety of hard plastics. This includes not-so-everyday items such as fuel tanks, kayaks and road cones. The central component of the recycling plant is a WEIMA WLK 1500 single-shaft shredder.

Founded in 1989, Devon Contract Waste (DCW) is the leading independent commercial waste recycling company in the South West of the UK. With a mission to further promote the sustainable management of waste in the region, DCW helps companies recycle as much waste as possible.

With the acquisition of the plastics recycler Polymer Industries, DCW expanded its portfolio to include the recycling of post-consumer and industrial plastics waste. The Exeter plastics recycling facility processes all types of plastic waste, including kayaks, floating platforms, laboratory crates, toys, safety helmets and fuel tanks into granulate. The plastic flakes are sold to British and European manufacturing companies and used as a secondary raw material in the manufacture of plastic products.

Meeting ambitious targets

The existing processing machines were increasingly limiting the capacities. For this reason it was decided to invest in a new plant. The target: More than 1,000 kg of plastic waste per hour, such as roll containers, plastic toys and pipes, should be processed into high-quality granulate.

With a comprehensive shredding system including automated conveyor technology, FERCELL , the British dealer for WEIMA machines, was able to prevail against the competition. In particular, the high level of efficiency and throughput capacity and the lower total investment costs over the lifetime of the plant were decisive factors. Furthermore, the low energy consumption, reduced noise emissions and maximum flexibility of the plant during material changes also convinced the British recycler.

Flexible for material changes, robust against foreign materials

For the production of the high-quality plastic granulate, FERCELL designed a multi-stage system in cooperation with WEIMA and the cutting mill specialist NEUE HERBOLD. A WEIMA WLK 1500 single-shaft shredder takes over the pre-shredding and transfers the shredded plastic parts to the downstream cutting mill. Due to its homogeneous size, the pre-shredded material is ideally suited for the granulator used as a secondary shredder, which means that its blades need to be turned, sharpened and replaced less frequently.

The WEIMA WLK 1500 single-shaft shredder features high output capacities and shreds almost all types of plastics such as hard plastics, fibres and foils. At the same time, its design makes it particularly insensitive to foreign matter.

Individual parts as well as whole bales can be fed into the shredder's hopper by wheel loader or forklift truck, but also manually. With a working width of 1,500 mm, the WLK 1500 is able to process all materials without prior manual shredding by means of a band saw. This not only increases capacities, but also increases work safety in the company.

Target achieved: More than 100 tons of granulate per week

The pre-crushed material is transported by a discharge belt to the downstream NEUE HERBOLD granulator. It passes a drum magnet and an overband metal separation. This protects the machine and guarantees a long service life. The seamless integration of the control system and the Stop-Go technology allows the filling of the granulator to be metered. The granulate is then removed by an extraction system, filled into bag bags and finally sold at a profit to be used again as raw material for new products. The loop is closed.

All good things come from above.

After three days and a total of 24 hours of work, the recycling plant was set up, installed and commissioned in Exeter, UK.

Additional Information
About WEIMA

More than 35,000 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.

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