Packaging Sorting

Oppin, 06.09.2017

Dr. Clemens Pues

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Waste Management Industry

� predominantly family-owned medium-sized

companies

� about 7,500 companies

� few large competitors

� industry consilidation is speeding up:

about 9 % of the companies generate

about 80 % of the industry revenue (EUR

38 bn)

� largest company: Remondis: rev. 6,4 bn.

� Tönsmeier on position 5

Companies by Revenue and Employees

Tönsmeier Group in the German Waste Management Industry

Product Development1973 Glass Processing1989 Scrap Metal Reycling1991 Pioneer in Take Back Schemes for

Producer Responsibility2005 RDF-Production

Foundation1927 From Karl Tönsmeier as

»Bahnamtliche Spedition«1958 »Staubfreie Müllabfuhr«

Market Development1990 Entry in East Germany

1994 WPT Waste Paper Trade: Joint Venture withOldenburger family

1996 Market Entry Poland

Diversification1998 PVC / Waste Wood

2010 Opening EAB (Energie Anlage Bernburg)

Facts70 locations in Europe

3.000 employees1.100 trucks

30 sorting and treatmentplants

Company Background

Standorte

Locations in Germany, Poland and The Netherlands� Germany: about 45 locations mainly in Northrhine-

Westfalia, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt� Poland: about 30 locations

Locations

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Collection Lightweight Packaging 2.4 Mio. citizensGlass-Collection 1.6 Mio. citizens

Sorting Installations Porta Westfalica 118,000 Mg / aLandsberg / Oppin 135,000 Mg / a

Sorting of Packaging Waste for German, Dutch and Norwegian Customers as wellas municipalities (German „Wertstofftonne“)

Glass Processing Petershagen-Lahde 180,000 Mg / aNeuburg/Donau 190,000 Mg / a

Activities in Producer Responsibility Take-Back Systems

General Aspects of Packaging Sorting

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Material: very light in collection( 25 – 40 kg/cbm), up to 100 kg/cbm in reception area (4 m high)

History of sorting technology : Mining and Tobacco

Two types of processes : „preparation for picking“ in order to have only one layer of material on the conveyor belt - and „picking“

Basis for Sorting : separation into 3 - 5 different groups of particle sizes

D NOR< 20 mm high organic / mineralic content; no detection by NIR 10 % 5 %20 – 120 mm smaller films, bottle-covers, yoghurt-cups 40 % 30 %

120 – 250 mm bottles, cans, larger films 40 % 50 %> 250 mm very large films (risk of overlapping other packaging) 10 % 15 %

NIR-Separation I

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source: Steinert

NIR Separation V

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source: Steinert

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Preparation Classification Air Separation

Metal-Separation

Conditioning Polymer Separation

Quality management

• bagopener

• coarseshredding

• sensor-based(NIR)

• hand-picking

• drum screen

• vibratingscreen

• air separa-tor

• overheadmagnet

• eddycurrentseparator

• ballistic-separator

• sensor-basedautomaticpicking byNIR

Sorting Process for Consumer Plastic Packaging

• sortingresidues

• organicresidue

• mineralicresidue

• films • FE / NE metals

• Polymers: PP, PE, PET bott-les, PET trays, PS

• mixedplastics

• Beveragecartons / paper

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Challenges from Collection: Bags or Bins ?

Verpackungen

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Challenge Non-Packaging Plastics

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….. during sorting

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Hazardous Material

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Packaging Dynamics

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ferrous metals (cans) steel millaluminium aluminium pyrolysispaper paper millsbeverage cartons paper mill (recycling of the reject material PE)

different recyclers with different apllicationPP polypropylen e.g. application in cars (different DKR specs)PE polyethylen e.g. construction industry (different DKR specs)PS polysterol flower potsPET bottles textilesPET trays no material recycling possible at the momentFilms film granulates

mixed plastics pallets, water collectionMPO pallets, water collection

sorting residue energetic recovery (EAB Bernburg)residue < 20 mm energetic recovery; fermentation

black plastics no application today

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https://www.hahnkunststoffe.de/produkte/

Central Changes with the new VerpackG: Selection

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1. New Recycling Quotas

2. New Supervising Authority: „Zentrale Stelle“ Foundation

3. Coordination between Take-Back-Systems and Municipalities

4. § 21 Recyclability of Packaging

start of legislative discussion: around 2007passed parliament: spring 2017effective: 01.01.2019

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source: Plastics Europe

Copyright Karl Tönsmeier Entsorgungswirtschaft GmbH & Co. KG

Thank you for your Interest