The pressure is on for the plastics industry in China to be ever-mindful of sustainability.
Last year raised numerous challenges for plastics recycling for the world's number-two economy, with recycled plastic materials prices plunging as crude oil prices made virgin materials more affordable, while the Chinese government launched several measures to tighten the handling of waste materials.
Recycling
Moreover, Chinese customs launched 'Operation Green Fence' which further tightened the testing standards for imported waste and banned the import of all waste that could pollute the environment. The administration on the value-added tax applied on waste materials was been strengthened and companies established in eco-industrial parks are being subjected to a closer monitoring for their compliance.
All these factors are putting unprecedented pressure to the recycling industry and serve as a wake-up call for waste plastics processors, urging them to transform and upgrade themselves to a more automated and energy-efficient manufacturing in order to stay in the competition. They also have to strengthen their management, being more aligned with the national policy and improve their technology levels on their products and manufacturing process.
In this light, CHINAPLAS 2016 will gather over 150 exhibitors to feature recycling solutions covering the entire recycling process - from sorting, shredding and cleaning, to dewatering, drying and pelletising - to offer investors the full range of recycling technologies. In order to do this well, exhibition organiser Adsale is establishing a Recycling Technology Zone for the first time to showcase cutting-edge recycling technology from leading companies under one roof. The solutions will help the recyclers and manufacturers in different ways in meeting various challenges.
Technical innovation and efficient recycling
Many companies in China have adopted a low-cost strategy to compete in economies of scale. However, when the recycled materials market suffers from a downturn, these companies soon run into trouble. At times like these, the businesses that have invested in automated, high-quality technologies for plastics recycling will survive.
Generally, plastic waste recycling undergoes several steps (sorting, shredding, cleaning, dewatering, drying and pelletising) before it is ready for use. Mr Ning Hong Tao, President of Plastics Recycling Committee of China, Plastics Processing Industry Association, pointed out that the development of automatic segregation for mixed plastic waste will be the most important future development for the recycling industry in order to solve the problems of traditional segregation methods that overly rely on inefficient manual sorting and chemical separation.
Tomra
Tomra Sorting Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. will showcase its AUTOSORT automatic sorting machine.
In the Recycling Technology Zone, Norway's Tomra Sorting will showcase its AUTOSORT automatic sorting machine. The system can meet a wide variety of sorting needs including the single stream, packaging, paper, and household waste to sort waste based on the colour and material information at the same time. Other functions include feedstock amount confirmation, continuous calibration and valve unit control. This sorter can be programmed to recover different materials from feedstock and is capable of sorting to a resolution of 2.5 mm.
Shredding is another important process in recycling. Suzhou Dyun Recycling Machinery Co. Ltd. will showcase its DYSSG Pipe Crusher and Shredder Unit at the exhibition. It is able to shred PE, PP and PVC pipe with diameter of 1200 mm. Pipe of up to 6 m in length can be shredded directly without cutting, while rotary speed remains slow and stable. A variety of pipes can be put into a flat feeding tank, which closes automatically, then pushes the pipe hydraulically into the centre axis for shredding. Shredded materials are sent for secondary crushing to obtain the optimal granular size.
Austrian EREMA is no stranger to the plastics recycling industry. This company offers innovative
and cutting-edge recycling solutions which are uniquely positioned in the market. EREMA is bringing the new generation of plastic recycling systems with optimised triple degassing - INTAREME TVEplus to the fair. Thanks to its excellent degassing and filtration performance, this machine can fulfil some applications that the conventional system cannot realise, such as heavily printed film, laminated film, aluminium metalised film from production waste; high contaminated post-industrial plastic waste, as well as household plastic waste. The recycled plastics can be up to blown-film standard.
Product upgrade and differentiation
Besides making high quality granules, finding ways to use these recycled materials in environmentally sound ways is of paramount importance. For example, wood plastic composites (WPCs) which often contain significant recycled wood or plastic content, offer low maintenance, a strong sustainability story and replicate the look of wood.
Zhangjiagang Lianguan Recycling Science & Technology Co. will showcase its waste material tray production line which employs co-extrusion and press moulding for making WPCs, avoiding many drawbacks of the conventional WPCs production processes. The company also provides other recycling solutions such as combining plastic waste with wood, rice bran, straw, etc. to produce décor, fencing and decking for outdoor landscaping.
Other exhibits that are worth seeing include the three-in-one function film recycling granulating extrusion line displayed by Hua Xing Plastic Machinery Co. for recycling LDPE, HDPE, PP waste film; plastic recycling machine HNT-V featured by Taiwan's POLYSTAR designed for the reprocessing of PE polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE) and PP polypropylene flexible packaging material, printed and non-printed; and Purui Plastics & Rubber Machinery Co.'s ML75 pelletising machine for film.
Plastics recycling and reuse is an environmentally sustainable business that CHINAPLAS believes "is worth our respect and advocacy". CHINAPLAS 2016, which will be held for its 30th edition on April 25th-28th 2016 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, PR China, will be bringing together the world's most advanced raw materials and processing technology to help the recycling industry in meeting both opportunities and challenges in 2016.