Plastics recycling – Latest news from the (Krones) world

Recycling at Krones

In keeping with the trends observable throughout the sector, Krones has also attached ever-greater importance to plastics recycling. It’s quite simply a matter of mathematics: Ten grams of PET per bottle for an hourly output of 100,000 bottles, that makes one million grams per hour and 24 tons a day. There are meanwhile bottling lines that can fill and pack up to 100,000 PET bottles an hour. With a production output of over 20 tons, such a line distributes quite a sizeable amount of plastic on the market every day. And that was precisely the reason why Krones even back in the early 2000s recognised both its responsibility in regard to sustainable plastics management and the full potential offered by plastics recycling: Drawing upon its extensive experience in the field of bottle washing, the company has modified this know-how to meet the requirements of plastics recycling and has kept on refining its concept ever since. This year, roughly two decades later, the group took the next logical step: spinning off Krones Recycling, which operates independently as its subsidiary.

Best equipped for all trends

Since the spin-off in July this year, Krones Recycling has been able to respond faster to new developments on the recycling market. “Our mission is to put together just the right recycling line that fits in perfectly with each of our global customers’ needs and local conditions,” explains Michael Gotsche, Managing Director of Krones Recycling GmbH. “On turnkey projects, the proportion of third-party kit is higher than in our traditional Krones business. And compared to the beverage sector, our new market experiences ever-changing input flows, which is a real challenge. That is why we have to decide in each individual case which components are best suited to meet and master the disparate requirements and who can provide them.”

Given the globally rising demand for recycling solutions, a wide variety of aspects must be considered in putting together the right system. Here are two examples: A line to be installed in a country where bottles are frequently collected on sandy beaches will need a different washing process than a line intended for a region with an established take-back system. And a line layout for a country with high staff costs will focus on quite different aspects than that for a region where energy is the limiting factor.

And the product portfolio itself has evolved as well, from bottle-to-bottle recycling pure and simple to equipment handling a wider range of materials: Krones Recycling now also offers systems for other plastics, such as polyolefins or polystyrene. Demand for polyolefin-recycling solutions, in particular, has recently soared so that PO recycling lines meanwhile account for about 50 per cent of all lines ordered. Recycling companies mainly from the USA are currently investing heavily in the latter and have chosen Krones Recycling to supply their lines. “It was only a matter of time until this potential would be realised. You see, the market for polyolefins is about twice as big as the PET market,” is how Michael Gotsche explains the rise in demand.

At the same time, the company is working on upgrading the recycling process for film material and multi-layered plastics. Krones Recycling’s in-house Recycling Technology Center is of huge benefit here. It serves to find solutions for rendering further types of plastic amenable to recycling in future and ways of simultaneously reducing the consumption of water, media and energy in collaboration with customers and other business associates. Not only does the development of solutional approaches give Krones Recycling an attractive competitive edge, it is also part of the subsidiary’s strategy designed to help meet the sustainability targets set out in Krones’ vision.

Recycling “beyond tomorrow“

For 2030, Krones Recycling has set itself the target of feeding at least 30 per cent of the plastic material put into circulation by Krones back into the plastics cycle as recovered resources. And the prospects are excellent! Markets of Asia and Africa are dynamically growing, and demand keeps on rising – as it’s the case in India for example. A rethink is also observable when it comes to price awareness. To quote Michael Gotsche: “We’ve found that our customers definitely appreciate our lines’ long-term performance provided by the top-quality materials they’re made of and our excellent after-sales service support. Just as much as the fact that we make systems that save energy, water and other resources a top priority in our lines because it cuts their operating and consequential costs. With our recycling solutions, we enable our customers to combine sustainability and performance to optimum effect. You see, in my view the sustainability concept will only catch on when it also makes economic sense.”