The drive to reduce the global carbon footprint and increase the use of recycled materials means that companies must rethink their current value chain end-to-end. This requires enhanced collaboration and sharing of expertise of all suppliers in the process chain to combine their expertise into viable processes and products. Felix Jakob, Director Sales Weighing Technology at Schenck Process Europe, explains the role of bulk material handling in this process and gives an outlook into the future.
Every year, Europe produces more than 53 million tons of plastic waste. Current trends predict this number to double by 2060, stressing the need for a more circular approach. Yet, the share of waste that is being returned to the production cycle remains relatively small in comparison, accounting for not even half of the generated tons. This partly stems from the fact that processed plastics, as opposed to virgin materials, comes with its own challenges. Plastic waste must meet strict specifications to be suitable for reprocessing, and handling large quantities needed in the recycling process is costly. In addition, the plastic materials vary greatly in quality, which further complicates the process.
“The feedstock and raw materials handled have in many cases very unpredictable and changing characteristics. They differ from lot to lot and from one country or region to another”, explains Felix Jakob, Director Sales Weighing Technology at Schenck Process Europe. “This requires a much higher flexibility and robustness of the process equipment in place.”
