Shredding hard plastics brings new business and helps to reduce non-disposable plastic pollution

In a world filled with plastic packaging, which accumulates in the environment and oceans, it is vitally important to move towards a greater level of recycling and reducing plastic waste. One step towards this goal was achieved by our customer in Belgium, which uses the TANA Shark waste shredder to shred hard plastics. The versatility of the TANA Shark is helping them adapt to the changing needs for particle size, an important factor in further processing of the recycled plastic.

When TANA’s customer in Belgium started to test ways to shred and recycle hard plastics, it got in contact with Philippe Potier from Smart Equipment, TANA’s exclusive distributor in Belgium. The customer had tried various machines and methods to shred hard plastics but wasn’t satisfied with the results. Mr. Potier suggested that the client rented a TANA Shark waste shredder from Smet Rental to see how well it worked. After two weeks of testing, the customer was ready to purchase a TANA Shark for itself. Furthermore, after three months of successful use, it is now planning to purchase another one.

When hard plastics are shredded with a high-speed waste shredder, a lot of fine particles that are too small for reuse are created. The fine particles are not suitable for recycling, which lowers the yield and profits are reduced. As the fine particles cannot be recycled, they also add to the non-disposable plastic pollution.

With a slow-speed waste shredder such as TANA Shark, hard plastics are shredded without creating fine particles. Thus, the yield from the recycled material is higher, resulting in less non-disposable plastic waste and higher profits. The customer has been very pleased with the even particle size it gets from its TANA Shark and that the particle size can be changed according to the needs of the business.

When investing, business owners need to think of the payback time. Investing in an industrial waste shredder is no different. Therefore, it is important that each machine is versatile and suitable for different uses. With some waste shredders, you need to make significant alterations or purchase new parts if you want to change the shredded material or particle size. The TANA Shark, however, can easily be adjusted to process different materials and produce different particle sizes by adjusting the rotor screen and cutting knives. This versatility means more use cases and higher utilization of the waste shredder, so that the business owner can adapt to the changing needs of the market quickly and without additional costs.

Plastic that is sent to be processed can include metal wires and other steel parts. Shredding plastic that includes steel with a high-speed waste shredder has a significant risk of machine breakdown. This is why companies using high-speed shredders first separate the metal before shredding, in an extra step in the process.

The TANA Shark’s cutting knives go through the metal parts in the same way as they do through plastic, which means no extra steps are required before shredding. The overband magnet removes the metal after shredding, leaving a very clean end product. The shredded plastic can be sent to be reused without additional work or it can be shredded to an even smaller size with a fast turner without the risk of breaking down.

“Our customers are happy that the TANA Shark extracts 99% of the steel during shredding. This means there are fewer process steps and a better quality end product,” explained Philippe Potier.

The customer in Belgium had experimented with other slow-speed waste shredders before trying the TANA Shark and had found either that the machines were incapable of shredding the plastic or that their output was very low due to clogging or slow shredding. A TANA Shark is capable of shredding 5–7 tonnes of hard plastic into small particles per hour and consumes 50–55 liters of fuel per hour when doing this. The capacity is twice that of other slow-speed machines with a normal consumption rate for this kind of material.

In addition, the TANA Shark waste shredder can also shred a variety of other materials, even the artificial plastic grass used for football fields, which is very difficult to shred. No other machine can shred this type of plastic effectively, but the TANA Shark has proven its capability, even with this type of material.

Comparison of waste shredders.

“The customer is pleased with the capacity of the TANA Shark and the fact that many different materials can be shredded is an important feature. This enables the customer to follow the market without costly modifications,” Philippe Potier concluded.