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Manfred Hackl of EREMA, Alfred Stern of Borealis, Ton Emans of PRE and Alexandre Dangis of EuPC all pressed the buzzer together for the grand opening of the Recycling Centre at the K trade fair. The joint presence of representatives of raw material producers, processers and recyclers is a strong signal. "The collaboration of the entire 'plastic' value chain has become more intensive in recent years and results in terms of product innovations – particularly in the case of recycling projects – deserve a special platform at K," emphasises Manfred Hackl, CEO of EREMA.
Recycling 4.0 live
EREMA recycled over 30 tonnes of plastic waste live on an INTAREMA TVEplus 1108 recycling system during the K show. At the same time EREMA also presented the first Industry 4.0 package in the field of plastics recycling, with the trade fair motto of CAREFORMANCE. "Building on the Smart Start package presented at K 2013 and the Intarema systems' high degree of automation connected with it, EREMA has developed a Smart Factory package for producers and recyclers. On the one hand, the process data of the individual machines is analysed and, on the other, the production and recycling facilities are interconnected with the entire process chain," explains Manfred Hackl.
Visitors could judge for themselves the online measuring equipment, analysis and evaluation tools of CAREFORMANCE: the machine, quality and process data of the recycling process will be relayed in real time directly from the Recycling Centre to EREMA's booth. Manfred Hackl is confident that this digital quality proof will further increase the amount of recyclate used in the production of plastics. The exhibition in the Recycling Centre was organised by EREMA in cooperation with customers and PRE. The portfolio ranges from food-contact-compliant articles such as rPET drinks bottles and technical injection-moulded and modern packaging materials to lifestyle products such as sunglasses and skateboards.
Premiere for 100 per cent recyclable plastics packaging
Participants saw a convincing premiere in the sustainable production of plastics packaging at the opening ceremony: Borealis, Hosokawa Alpine, Bobst, GEA and EREMA presented the latest developments in the production of recyclable stand-up pouches. This collaboration of the companies makes it possible for the first time to produce pouches with a material combination based exclusively on PE. The companies involved demonstrate impressively how the closed plastic loop works: the pouches produced on site – including any production waste – are likewise recycled live and the recyclates processed directly on an OCS extruder to make blown film. Visitors can, therefore, judge the quality of the film made from the recycled PE pouches for themselves. Additionally, this recyclate was used prior to the K trade fair to make carrier bags too as a giveaway at the show. "I like to compare the plastic loop to a relay race. It is not enough if a part of the value chain thinks only in terms of their processing step. Every manufacturer or processor of plastics has to think one step further to reach the finish line successfully together," says Manfred Hackl.
