Page 54 - Plastics News April 2020

Post-consumer recycling (PE/PP) growing in Russia

Post-consumer recycling requires several processing operate because the material is already well prepared
steps such as sorting (material separation), size and pre-conditioned.
reduction, washing, drying and pelletizing in order to
A post-consumer recycler located in Belgorod, Russia
achieve good quality recycled pellets as the end
product. who is dedicated in the recycling of municipal waste has
a complete set up: The automatic sorting lines initially
Good degassing and filtration are probably the most separate paper, glass, metal and plastic. The plastics are
important processes in pelletizing machines when it then separated by groups: 1) PET bottles, 2) films of
comes to post-consumer recycling. In many occasions, a HDPE and LDPE and 3) rigid plastic and followed by two
two-stage recycling pelletizing machine is preferred by washing lines - One for PET bottle and another for plastic
professional recyclers who focus on post-consumer films. After washing and drying the process is completed
recycling. in the POLYSTAR pelletizing recycling machine. The
recycled pellets are mainly used for producing plastic
boxes for vegetables.
Updates of POLYSTAR in the Russian recycling market:
In Russia, 68 sets of POLYSTAR plastic pelletizing
machine have been installed since 2012.
Amongst them, 45 lines are dedicated specially for post-
consumer recycling.

The washed material is fed into the compactor for a
quick densifying process (which at the same time further
dries the material by natural heat and friction); this
helps to stabilize the material feeding into the extruder.
The material then goes into the first (main) extruder for
the filtration process and a two-vented degassing
(installed with high efficiency vacuum system). The
material then passes through an open area for the third
and final degassing, and enters the second stage (short)
extruder where the second filtering process is done.

The two-stage pelletizing line significantly improves the
quality of the recycled pellets as the washed material
goes through two filtration and three degassing steps in
both extruders combined. As a result, the final
pelletizing process becomes more stable and easier to

APRIL 2020 51 Plastics News