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The recycling of the plastics in Europe after the implementation of new Chinese law regulations

At the beginning of 2018 the ban on the import of 24 types of waste has been implemented. There are for main categories of the waste: plastics (incl. PET bottles), not segregated paper, slag&dust and textile waste). Also the quality control of all the other waste has been made more severe. According to the information provided by Greenpeace only in 2012 China accepted 56% of all the global plastics waste.

Soon, in 2013 a ten-month campaign called „Green Fence” was launched in China throughout this period China succeeded in avoiding of  the transport of 58 thousand tons of hazardous substances including toxic substances coming from abroad and that is why the decision about the ban had been made.

On the other hand, those decisions based on the care about the environment does not change the situation that the Chinese industry has needed cheap raw material from more than twenty-five years, and it is the foreign waste that is a better raw material than the domestic one.

As a response to these changes the European Parliament announced the strategy (January) which assumes that by 2030 the utilization of the plastic packaging waste will have been maintained on the level of 55 %, and all types of packaging will have been suitable for recycling. At the same time a new ban on the storage of the selectively collected waste will be implemented.

So far Ireland has been the biggest plastic waste exporter to China maintaining the level of sending the waste at 95%, Great Britain locates just after this country, which – similarly to Ireland – does not have the possibility to process the waste on its territory.

At the end of 2017 double increase of the  import of the waste was observed Malaysia, but also Indonesia, India, Thailand and Wietnam where in January the authorities stopped giving import permissions. Also the government of Malaysia was not passive in this situation and soon implemented the law regulation according to which the importers of the waste are forced to obtain environmental permissions.

Sending waste to the Asian countries does not solve the problem anyway since at present they are able to accept only one-third of what we have sent there so far.

New law regulations implemented in China force European Countries, which so far have exported their waste there, to develop the recycling systems in order to create less waste and to manage it within the country of its production by recycling it into ready-made raw material.

 

ARGUS MASZYNY                                                                                                                           27-03-2018

Recycling in Europe – Waste Regulations Set CCI (Closed Circuit Industry)

According to Closed Circuit Industry all the materials should come back on the market in the palce where they were initially produced.

Established by the European Parliament  so called Waste Regulations Set defines new objectives for the communal waste recycling sector: in 2020 the level of recycling waste is to increase up to 50 %, and finally in 2035 to reach the level of 65%. Also the law regulations considering the storage of the waste are going to be radically changed since it is planned that by 2035 the amount of it will have been reduced to 10 %.

In Poland currently  the level of recycling waste is equal to approximately 20%. The countries such as: Germany, Austria or Belgium even now meet the requirements defined for 2020 recycling about 60 % of the wasted gendered there. According the European Commission decision, Poland together with 10 other countries has the opportunity to use five-year lengthened period of the objective achievement – which means being similar to the countries of comparable communal waste recycling parameters such as: Estonia, Greece or Croatia.

Europe produces more than 2,5 billion tons of waste every year and yet less than one-third is reused.

This year ban of the waste export to China makes it necessary for us to act immediately. So far in Poland and other European countries the problem of the waste overflow has been solved mainly by the export to China. Europe has been using this opportunity to the maximum. Only in 2012 China accepted 56% of global plastic waste, and it’s been estimated that this number might have increased up to 70 %. In this way we used to eliminate the problem of segregation and storage of the waste and the Chinese side used to be pleased with the good quality of the raw materials – better than their own. Finally China said – STOP!. The delivery of approximately five thousand containers a week with mixed waste harmed both the citizens and the environment of China, a fortifier as that Europe used to send more and more useless waste year by year.

The Chinese ban has forced us to reestablish the balance in waste management as putting to an end bizarre situations in recycling sector such as purchasing waste from Scandinavian countries and – at the same time – selling our own to China.

The recycling system repair in Europe is going to make it possible to reduce the natural resources consumption, help the environment as well as create numerous work places: it is estimated that Poland can gain as much as 35 % of one hundred thousand new work places in Europe.

 

 

ARGUS MASZYNY                                                                                                                                        26-04-2018

 

Currently the film waste, which storage (according to Polish law: DzU z 2015 r. Poz 1277) is prohibited, becomes more and more serious problem. It must be fully recycled or utilized – which, of course, creates, additional costs esp. for the Municipalities.

That is why the PE, PP film granulating and washing lines are becoming in the centre of attention among the companies from the plastics recycling sector.

The universality of such compact solution lowers the summary costs of achieving the final product as well as fits very well in the eco-policy of European Union aimed at significant increase of the percentage of the recycled plastics (read here: https://argusmaszyny.pl/recykling/recykling-aktualnosci/#Recykling-tworzyw-sztucznych-w-Europie).

The ‚eternal’ problem connected with the recycling and processing of the film is the volume of the material that is to be processed. The primary raw material – meaning the film being waste, can be pressed but the film that has been washed and dried increases its volume several times. The „flaked” material – after drying – is only a few tens of kilograms in a big-bag and many more square meters in the storage area. The transport of such a light and unpressable material, even within a company, is highly uneconomical.

Without the integrated line of granulating and the line of washing, the necessity of transport of the material after washing occurs repeatedly and obviously increases the total cost of production (after washing and drying to the storage area, from the storage area to the granulation)

Argus offers a machine capable of drying as well as simultaneous compaction of the washed film (squeezer), which completely eliminates the problem od the volume of the material after drying. Dried and squeezed (compacted) product in the form of pellet can be transmitted directly onto the extruder, without the necessity of additional fractionation. This machine is installed at the end of the washing line in the place of centrifuge and pipe dryer. Thanks to the squeezer, apart from the reduction of the volume of film, this material (film) has the moisture at the level of 2-3% – which is actually not achievable when air-drying is used.

The squeezer can also work independently (outside the line) or in a set with special washing liquid. This washing liquid can be used, apart from grinding film, for washing or – saying more accurately – rinsing it. The film that can be used in such a configuration of the machines cannot be dirty, just a bit dusted on slightly unclean. The usage of such a set will make it possible to get a final product of a much better quality in the form of clean pellets (granulate).

Feel welcome to get to know our offer in more detail.

Argus Machines

04-05-2018

In order to watch the videos recorded during the technical installation for our Clients, click the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0i8hXbjn0&t=3s

Waste Regulations Package CCI (Closed Circuit Industry) accepted by the EU member states

The European Union Council established the Waste Regulations Package on the 22-nd May 2018 and in this way formulated new objectives for the recycling in Europe.

„Member states will have to meet the following targets as they increase the reuse and recycling of municipal waste:

 

                                   By 2025                                       By 2030                            By 2035

Municipal waste.          55%                                              60%                                   65%

 

Member states will set up, by 1 January 2025, separate collections of textiles and hazardous waste from households. In addition, they will ensure that by 31 December 2023, bio-waste is either collected separately or recycled at source (e. g. home composting). This is in addition to the separate collection which already exists for paper and cardboard, glass, metals and plastic.

The legislation defines specific recycling targets for packaging:

By 2025                                                               By 2030

All packaging

65%                                                                     70%

Plastic

50%                                                                     55%

Wood

25%                                                                     30%

Ferrous metals

70%                                                                     80%

Aluminium

50%                                                                     60%

Glass

70%                                                                     75%

Paper and cardboard

75%                                                                     85%

The legislation contains a landfill reduction target, and sets minimum requirements for all extended producer responsibility schemes. Producers of products covered by these schemes must take responsibility for the management of the waste stage of their products, and will be required to contribute financially. Mandatory extended producer responsibility schemes for all packaging have also been introduced. Member states shall endeavour to ensure that as of 2030, all waste suitable for recycling or other recovery, in particular in municipal waste, shall not be accepted in a landfill.

The waste package will lead to more recycling of waste and so contribute to the creation of a circular economy. It will encourage the use of recyclable packaging and reusable packaging and will improve the way waste is managed. […]

Now that the Council has adopted the legislation, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal.

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