The ASIA Miner - Reporting Important Issues to Mining Companies in the Asia Pacific Region
Issue link: https://asiaminer.epubxp.com/i/830355
26 | ASIA Miner | Volume 14 • Issue 2 | 2017 CHRISTIAN Hündgen is convinced that the more secondary raw materials are fed back into the production of products, the better. That's why the family-run German enterprise focuses on achieving as high a level of material purity as possible when sorting waste. "We concentrate more on the sorting depths than on high through- put rates. It ensures our customers remain loyal to us," he says. To achieve this goal, Christian Hündgen worked together with sales manager Sascha Haag from STEINERT, the specialist for magnet and sensor sorting systems, to carefully examine the re- maining losses from the sorting of lightweight plastic packaging. Whenever waste cannot be avoided, it's best to recycle it for the production process. And if material cannot be processed, it should be incinerated to generate energy. To date, the materials left over af- ter sorting the contents of Germany's 'yellow bag' recycling containers have been used as high-calorie substitute fuels for thermal recovery. However, the waste management sector wanted to find out how addi- tional materials could be sorted out for use in production. STEINERT, too, is looking for ways to increase the recycling rates of its customers and reduce their costs. As a result, STEINERT de- cided to economically sort out black plastics, which the waste dis- posal sector has wanted to do for some time. In the next step, experts at the Cologne Test Centre examined the material to be sorted from the Hündgen company in order to deter- mine which valuable plastics could be extracted from the remain- ing lightweight packaging. Hündgen was impressed by the UniSort Black system, which sorts all black plastics out of the flow of mate- rials. Without this system, these plastics couldn't be recycled. As another bonus, the system sorts out plastics that have a NIR-specifiable spectrum (eg PE, PP and PS). "The experiments at the test centre confirmed our purchasing decision," says Christian Hündgen. "The tests faithfully recreated the conditions at our facility, and thus made the decision easier for us. Another benefit is that the system supports remote maintenance, which ensures we get rapid assistance when making adjustments." This is an important consideration for the family-run company, which processes about 200 tons of waste per day. A family-run technology leader It's only logical that the family-run business decided to purchase a UniSort Black system. A glance at the company's history reveals that Hündgen has always been a technology leader with an in- depth understanding of the market. Hündgen has been a pioneer of the recycling economy ever since Germany introduced its 'green dot' recycling program in the early 1990s. In a recycling economy, raw materials are completely integrated back into the manufacturing process once a product's service life is over. "We don't simply react to new legislation, but are instead pro- active and prepared for any changes that might occur," says Chris- tian Hündgen about his company's development. "We are working with associations, cooperating with universities and serving as a project partner for research institutes so that we can find out about future developments early on and participate in them." Hündgen is a medium-sized enterprise with 120 employees. The company has continuously evolved and adapted itself to market Class instead of mass is key for recycler STEINERT UniSort Black system utilised Hündgen plant manager and third generation employee Christian Hündgen. Input material from lightweight packaging before sorting - the 60-200mm fraction of materials to be sorted.