Pekutherm, the plastic recycler specialized in the recovery of industrial residual plastics of acrylic glass (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC), has moved. Since the beginning of the year, the company has been relocated step by step to the new location Geisenheim (near Wiesbaden) without interrupting operations. Now all machines are ready for operation at the new location and the wanted strength of the staff, i.e. about 40, has been reached.
The Geisenheim-based Pekutherm Kunststoffe GmbH, founded in 1985, is a leading company in the field of recycling of industrial residual plastics of acrylic glass and polycarbonate. At Geisenheim Pekutherm operates six precision cutting mills or comminution systems, respectively, to convert 5000 MT of industrial waste per year into high-quality PMMA and PC recyclates. Within the framework of the change of location and the consequent increased space available, the company invested in a new shredder system of 12m length for plastic residues. The plant is equipped with two large conveyor belts, of which one transports the secondary plastics to the mill. Now it is possible to comminute also particularly heavy residual materials with a large volume, such as start-up lumps, sheets or parts of noise abatement walls up to a thickness of about 35 cm. The second conveyor belt passes the ground material to a separator, and then it is packed in Big Bags.
Furthermore, Pekutherm makes use of the new space available to set up more collecting containers for secondary plastics for the suppliers, thus increasing the efficiency of disposal. The managing director Heiko Pfister said: “The town Raunheim envisages another use of our former location so that we were forced to move. In Geisenheim we purchased an area of 14200 sqm from MAN Roland. It comprises three halls with a production and storage area of approx. 10000 sqm. One of them is an industrial monument set up in 1908. Formerly, printing presses were mounted there. In spite of all the logistic expenditure, today we are glad to have moved. The infrastructure is okay and the large area offers a lot of space for future expansions of our company. Due to our clearly higher storage capacities now we are able to better compensate varying quantities and, if necessary, to buy larger quantities.”
The compensations paid by Pekutherm for residual PMMA and PC from furniture, shop, fair and greenhouse construction as well as from machine building (protective glazing) and for collected CDs and DVDs are generally based on the indices known in the branch. Size, shape, and thickness of the plastic waste as well as correctly sorted materials are of primary importance. The available quantity and transportation charges also influence the prices. Pfister: “We can offer attractive compensations to our suppliers because our high-quality, particularly dedusted recyclates and our glass-clear ground materials are much sought-after in the industry. Typical applications are automotive reflectors, sockets, light switches and structured plates, e.g. for roofs or wall linings.”[
Translation: AT recovery]