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España Services Paper Kunsstoffe - Sorting Plastic Waste - Plastic processing Wood About TPV Other services Partners Links Press Releases Contact   print		Plastic processing Bizkaiko Plastiko Berziklategia S.L. (BPB) is responsible for processing high-quality plastics. The employees of BPB at Amorebieta also have to deal with high-quality plastics, such as films. The waste materials are cut into smaller pieces, sorted, washed and regranulated. These regranulates meet with quality standards and are sold as raw materials for use in a number of processes. Foreign Residues The input material comes from different sorting facilities. Sometimes foreign residues remain on the collected film. They can be contaminated, coloured or labelled. Nor are all films made from the same material. And even the widely used polyethylene (PE) comes in a variety of different grades, mainly in the form of LDPE and HDPE. Precision Work in Six Steps Recycling technology must deal with these differences. At the facility in Amorebieta the material is processed in six steps: 1. Separating and Presorting Step The materials are usually delivered in bales. The plastics are removed from the bales and fed into the facility. Foreign materials such as PVC containers, tetrapacks, paper, refuse, metals, tins and bottles are sorted out as well as other metallic and mineral materials. This facilitates the subsequent size-reducing process. 2. Size-Reducing Step The materials are reduced to the desired size in two steps. Frictional forces help remove some of the foreign substances from the plastics. 3. Washing and Sorting Step The now smaller pieces of materials are placed on a conveyor belt and passed through a high-powered washer, where useful plastics like PE are washed, wet milled and separated from other materials with the help of gravitational force. 4. Drying Step The plastic chips are dried and stored for further processing. 5. Extruding and Granulating Step The clean PE chips are melted in an extruder and processed into a homogeneous mass. In the subsequent step the liquid plastic is cooled and cut into regranulates about the form of lentils. 6. Shipment Step The PE regranulates are poured into a silo. From here the bulk material is filled into sacks, which are delivered to customers by lorry, rail or ship. Saving Water The plant at Amorebieta is equipped to handle a throughput of 8,000 tonnes per year. Large quantities of water are required for operations. This wash water is continually treated in a two-step processed. It protects the environment and also reduces operating costs.