Metal wires from paper pulp bales are high in value but very hard to shred and clean for selling purposes. Usually the metal wires are stuck with plastics and some remains of the pulping process. This particular type of waste is almost impossible to separate, says a landfill operator in France.
Normally the only possibility to handle this type of waste is to dump it at a landfill. Metal wires from pulp bales into profit is no easy task. This is due to lack of process and suitable technology to shred and separate the metal wires from the plastics and paper pulp residues. To solve this problem, they decided to do a trial with the TANA Shark 440. Thrilling results were obtained.
– The TANA Shark 440 proved out to be a perfect solution for us. For the first time ever, we have the possibility to turn annually 10 000 tons of waste into 750 000 € of profits, says the operations manager of the landfill in question.
How is this possible?
The key to success is the separation of the metal wires from the plastics in an optimized shredding process. The waste consists roughly 50% of metal wires and 50% of SRF based plastics and pulp residues. The metal wires can be sold for >150 €/tons and the SRF can be burned. The total amount of 10 000 tons can be recycled annually with the TANA Shark 440. See the table below for the details of the process.
| Process with TANA Shark 440 | Additional information |
| 1. The waste with long metal wires and plastics are cut and shred into small pieces | TANA Shark has the ability to cut through the waste – not to tear it. This reduces downtime caused by the metal wires and plastics wrapping around the rotor, which does not happen with TANA Shark. |
| 2. Metal wires heats up when shred | The heat helps to dry up the wet pulp and to remove the pulp residues from the metals |
| 3. Metal, plastic and pulp are separated | Achieved from the conveyor with a magnet and an air blowing or suction process |
| End results: -> Very clean recycled scrap metal, particle size below 110mm, ready for selling -> Clean plastic and pulp residues are ready to be used for burning purposes |
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Because of the possibility to switch, change or remove counter knives and use screens of different mesh sizes, TANA Shark can produce very homogeneous particle size from 50 to 500 mm. This allows the fine-tuning of the process for reaching optimal results in the shredding speed and quality. The client also found intriguing that they can use TANA Shark for other types of waste as well, such as wood, plastic and tyres.
Approximately half of the waste is metal wires and the rest is plastics and paper left from the mass after the pulping process. SRF = Solid Recovered Fuel.
The 10 000 tons of annual recycling capacity of this type is roughly 30-40% of the TANA Shark’s total capacity. This means the client can utilize the TANA Shark 440 for other purposes and materials if needed. This also opens the possibility to accept more of this kind of waste for increasing the profit margin ever further.
– We are very interested in opening new opportunities for business with TANA Shark, especially when we have the possibility to shred other materials with the same machine, the operations manager says.