Extrusion International 3-2023

34 Extrusion International 3/2023 RECYCLING – CASE STUDY Innovation in the Sustainability Space – Recycling Capacities in North America Expanded Recycling plastics in a way that is both economically successful and makes ecological sense is something that was hardly imaginable for many just a few years ago. The recycling machine manufacturer EREMA in Austria – like the sustainable packaging manufacturer Polykar in Canada – became a pioneer in its field through its early entry into plastics recycling. The two companies crossed paths in 2007 at the customer centre of EREMA North America (ENA) in Ipswich, MA, when Polykar founders Elyse Damdjee and Aziz Karim expressed the desire to see an EREMA plant in operation and check out the recycled pellets it produced during a trial run. "D uring this visit we were able to demonstrate the performance of our recycling machines and the excellent level of service we provide. That was the start of a partnership that is still going strong today," says ENA CEO Mike Horrocks. Amir Karim, President and CEO of Polykar, took over the company, founded in 1987, and spent the last two decades turning his once garbage-bag family business into a sustainable-packaging powerhouse. The product range focus areas are: polyethylene film for converters, garbage bags, certified compostable bags and food and industrial flexible packaging. A circular approach to packaging has always been key for Polykar who contin- ues to engage in partnerships with global polyethylene suppliers and end users to recycle and reuse recycled packaging, giving the material a second life. EREMA is a long-standing, reliable technology partner Polykar began recycling post-industrial and post- commercial PE film following the purchase of their first EREMA T recycling system, which was commissioned one year after their visit to ENA. That was followed by an EREMA TVE system in 2011, and in 2014 the company was one of the world's first to use the new INTAREMA ® TVEplus®recycling systemwith SWRTFmelt filter, which had only recently been brought on to the market, mak- ing Polykar one of the most modern and efficient flex - ible film recycling plant operating in the province. That was the first generation of equipment that featured the newly developed and worldwide patented Counter Cur- rent technology. This innovative concept saw EREMA set a milestone in mechanical plastics recycling, because the optimised material feed from the cutter compactor into the tangentially aligned extruder enables it to take up more material in less time. Inside the cutter compac- tor, the material rotates in the opposite direction to the extruder, which means that the optimum temperature range of the material entering the extruder is much wider and the output rate is much higher. As a result, it provided the perfect technological support for the ex- pansion of recycling capacity that Polykar was planning Post-commercial packaging being recycled with EREMA machine. (All images© Polykar) New resin from plastic waste recycling