TITECH Technology first choice to sort PET flake at ECO Plastics

Published: 02/12/2011
Category: Industry

TITECH technology is once again the sorting system of choice for ECO Plastics Ltd. Five TITECH autosort Flake systems will be incorporated into a new facility as part of ECO Plastics’ £15 million expansion to supply the firm’s recently announced joint venture with Coca Cola. ECO Plastics‘ expansion will increase the amount of food grade recycled PET produced at the plant to 40,000 tonnes, almost 70 per cent of the UK total.

TITECH has developed a world-class solution that will allow the sorting of PET flake by material and colour simultaneously, providing a milestone in the quality and purity of the PET output.

This important deal follows on from the highly successful Hemswell processing facility that opened in 2010, where 20 TITECH units are used to sort mixed plastics from UK MRFs.

Jonathan Short, ECO Plastics’ managing director, comments: “We are very pleased with the standard that we have been able to achieve. Previously the industry has not been able to sort PET flake to this very high standard of quality and purity. This development will help us to supply our extrusion equipment and all out PET flake customers with the highest quality material available in the market today.”

This industry milestone has been possible thanks to the strong working relationship between ECO Plastics and TITECH. As Brian Gist, TITECH UK Sales Engineer, explains: “This announcement is a great example of two businesses working together to produce exceptional results. ECO Plastics had a clear understanding of what they wanted to achieve and were very supportive throughout the process. We took up the challenge and are very pleased with the world-class standard that has been set.”

To achieve the levels of purity and quality demanded by its customers for food grade pellet, ECO Plastics needs to sort its infeed of plastic bottles by polymer type and by colour. Particularly high levels of purity are required for this application, so the removal of any contaminating materials early in the process is essential.

The new technology will operate on the PET line at Hemswell, where material has been identified, shredded and then washed by the primary plant. Subsequently, the washed flake is sorted by size, before the flake sorters remove any impurities at an unrivalled purity level. The system is based upon TITECH’s bespoke spectrometer technology that delivers outstanding results on standard sorting applications across the world.

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