Page 71 - Plastic News November 2023

REPORT

7 Solutions to Common Plastic Recycling Operation Problems: A Stable
Production Guide

The easiest solution is to ensure
that the waste plastics are clean and
sorted to their types before they are
fed into the recycling machines. Dirty
post-consumer plastic waste must be
washed and dried before the recycling
process.
3. Blockages and hopper bridg-
ing
Material blockage generally causes
by improperly prepared materials
or poor maintenance of the machine
components. In the hopper-feeding
recycling machines, the material might
cause bridging because of interlocking
ifferent characteristics of each Automatic material feeding systems each other or due to the moisture (for
Dtype of plastic might cause plas- with a belt conveyor, screw conveyor, tiny particles).
tic recycling operations be challeng- or nip roller feeders that work syn- Solution:
ing time to time. In most cases, many chronously with the plastic pelletizer
common problems can be solved with can provide stable material feeding.
minimum effort when you have user- These POLYSTAR feeding systems
friendly and flexible plastic recycling pause or run based on the load of the
machines. Here we have listed the pelletizer, resulting in maximum feed-
possible solutions to 7 common plas- ing efficiency.
tic recycling operation problems. 2. Contamination of the plastic
1. Material Feeding instability material
Feeding waste materials into plastic Food residue, dirt, oil, and other im-
recycling machines must be stable to purities as well as mixing different
achieve maximum productivity while types of plastics can contaminate the
preventing machine downtime. Ex- recycled pellets and cause a decrease Proper preparation based on type,
cess feeding or insufficient feeding in quality and reusability of them. shape, and condition of the waste ma-
often results in poor production ef- Contamination also makes the recy- terial for your recycling machine, and
ficiency. cling process less efficient, producing using auto-feeding systems can solve
Solution: more waste while raising costs. many material blockage problems.
Solution: Periodic maintenance on the machine
components, regularly changing filter
meshes, and unclogging the die head
are also easy and common preven-
tions. Using force feeders for hopper-
feeding recycling machines can help
prevent material bridging.
4. Overheating
Overheating the plastic waste in the
integrated pre-conditioning equip-

PLASTICS NEWS 7171
November 2023 PLASTICS NEWS