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Sorting Plastic Waste
Sorting and classifying packaging materials no longer has to be done by hand. Today, fully automatic machines perform this task.
BZB works with great precision. The company was founded in 1997
as a public-private Partnersship and is jointly managed by Garbiker,
the Bizkaia Provincial Council, and Trienekens País Vasco. BZB operates
a facility with a capacity of 14,000 tonnes per year. This amount
is sufficient to cover the demand in BZB's collecting area both
in the medium and the long term. If necessary, the capacity of the
facility can be increased.
Yellow Containers
Today, the joint venture is responsible for handling the packaging
waste produced by more than one million people. Those who participate
in the system just put their packaging waste in a yellow container,
which is regularly emptied.
Ballistic Separation
BZB does not only operate the conventional sorting and separating
machines. The company's equipment also includes ballistic separators
and infrared scanners that classify the materials by optical recognition.
Compact Bales
Each material fraction is compressed into a highly compact bale.
These bales are supplied to industrial companies for recycling.
Compressed Residues
With the help of compressors, the remaining residues are prepared
for better handling in incineration plants and at landfills for
hazardous waste.
Strict Criteria
The plant operates in compliance with the strict quality management
criteria of ECOEMBES, the organisation responsible for disposing
of used packaging materials. These guidelines regulate, for example,
the degree of homogeneity, the maximum amount of humidity, the size
of the bales as well as the size and colour of the materials. Experts
and external supervisors regularly control whether quality standards
have been met. ECOEMBES selects the recycling companies to ensure
that quality criteria have been complied with. The plastics are
collected according to zones, and there are several plants in each
zone. The price is not the only decisive factor in selecting plants.
Professional qualifications, processing capacity, the location of
the plant and the level of service are also important aspects.
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