Recycling equipment makers hope to take advantage of Chinese regulations

China's decision to severely crack down on the import of recycled plastics is being felt throughout the world.

And ripples of that move will be evident at NPE2018 as the world of plastics gathers once again for the triennial gathering.

Erema North America Inc., the machinery maker for plastics recycling, will be at the show as usual, along with a wide range of other companies involved in the plastics recycling industry.

The company sees an opportunity for people in the United States to take advantage of the situation.

Many people made lots of money over the years simply by baling recovered plastics and sending them off to China for recycling. That was not out of the ordinary as that country became a huge outlet for a variety of recycled materials.

China first made news several years ago with its Green Fence initiative to clean up the plastic recycling stream. Green Fence was not as stringent as the current effort, dubbed National Sword, but it grabbed the attention of recyclers at that time. Things changed, but commerce ultimately continued.

National Sword, instead, has essentially outlawed the import of recycled plastics and other materials into China.

Martin Baumann, vice president of sales at Erema North America, calls the situation "dynamic" and says there is opportunity for domestic recyclers.

"Above all, China's no longer being an international consumer for post-consumer waste plastic is a dramatic development, but since, unlike waste plastic, high-quality recycled pellets can still be exported to China, this represents a potential opportunity for plastics recycling in the USA and Canada," he said in a statement.

Erema will be demonstrating its Intarema T 1108 at its booth, processing clean low density polyethylene waste without preshredding. The company also will provide information on what the company calls "the world's first rPET inline Preform system."

The company will additionally highlight information about melt filters from the company's Powerfil business unit, which will be at NPE2018 for the first time.

As usual, NPE2018 will feature a variety of plastics recycling related exhibitions. Here's a rundown of those companies that responded to a Plastics News request for information regarding their activities at the show.

Vertellus Specialties Inc. (Booth S10155) will introduce two new technologies for "driving increased use of recycled polyester in nylon resin" and "enhancing the benefits of recycled" PET at NPE2018, the company said.

One Vertellus product is a compatibilizer that creates alloys of recycled polyester and nylon that "enables new materials with performance properties similar to those of virgin nylon, but with a significant cost advantage."

The company also is showcasing a technology for upgrading recycled PET and, possibly, bio-plastics by providing higher clarity and better performance at lower doses, the company said.

Starlinger & Co. GmbH (Booth W6885) is presenting two technologies that the company said advances closed loop packaging. They are the company's odor reduction technology and PET technology for the production of bags and flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBCs) from 100 percent recycled PET bottle flakes.

"Production in a closed loop is also a hot topic in the area of FIBCs and consumer goods packaging," the company said. "Thanks to Starlinger's PET technology, customers are now starting to use [recycled] rPET flakes as input material for their tape extrusion lines."

For odor reduction, the company said it has developed "a technology that neutralizes odors on a permanent basis" through the use of material preparation, degassing and post-treatment of recycled plastics.

Recycled plastics buyer Domino Plastics Co. (Booth S17175) will be exhibiting at NPE2018 for the fifth time, the Port Jefferson, N.Y.-based company said.

The company describes itself as a full-service plastic scrap recycling company with 30 years in business.

Hamos GmbH Recycling (Booth S20197) will see its metal separation, plastics sorting and recycling equipment featured at the show.

Vecoplan LLC (Booth W6283) will introduce its new VTH 65 Grinder at NPE2018, which the company said is "engineered for the single stage size reduction of lineal plastic scrap."

The grinder produces granulate that can be directly reintroduced into the manufacturing process, Vecoplan said.

"The VTH 65 handles production waste such as sheet extrusion strips, profiles, molding scrap, and pipe," the company said. "It produces a consistently sized three-dimensional regranulate with an extremely low proportion of fines.

Sattler Plastics Co. of Chicago (Booth S24198) buys and sells recycled plastics including regrind and scrap. The company also provides toll grinding services. Sattler, in business since 1965, has locations in Chicago, Germany and Malaysia.

Ettlinger North America LP (Booth S20189) will display its newest melt filter technology in the NPE Recycling Zone as well as the Maag Automatik Inc. display (Booth W5775).

The company's newest ERF350 "raises throughput to a whole new level for a global customer base" and builds upon the company's ERF250 model, which has been the firm's most popular model.

Ettlinger also will display its newest offering in the company's Eco continuous melt filter series designed for processing PET and materials including super high melt polypropylene.

NPE2018 will be the first major trade show with Ettlinger belonging to Maag Group, which is a unit of publicly traded Dover Corp. Dover acquired Ettlinger in January.

Kreyenborg Plant Technology GmbH (Booth W3775) is showcasing its IR-Clean and PET-Booster products that are based on the company's IRD Infrared Rotary Drum system.

The company also will feature its bulk handing equipment, including silos, mixers and crammer feeders for the recycling and extrusion industries.

The IRD Infrared Rotary Dryer is used for crystallizing and drying virgin and regrind materials. PET-Booster is a continuously operating system that crystalizes and dries PET within 7 to 10 minutes. And IR-CLEAN decontaminates post-consumer PET flakes for direct food contact products

Florida Plastic Recycling (Booth S22201), based in Jacksonville, Fla., will be at the show offering its post-consumer PET flake and pellet recycling services for both food and non-food grade applications.