PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2014

ON SITE 55 www.strautmann-umwelt.com | Auf dem Haarkamp 22 | 49219 Glandorf | Germany 3UR¿WDEOH GLVSRVDO RI 3(7 ERWWOHV Since 20 years your partner for process reliability, safe emptying and disposal of PET ERWWHOV FDUGERDUG SDFNDJLQJ DQG ¿OP Hall 6 | Booth 203 Six tonne flakes per hour C.Lic.Enrique Peña Nieto, the President of Mexico, the Board of Directors of PetStar and Coca-Cola Man- agement participated in the opening ceremony held at PetStar premises at Toluca, Mexico, on the 16 th of July. The occasion was the installation of the latest PET wash plant by Amut. This plant is the second to be supplied to Pet- Star, who wanted to double its existing capacity, thus demonstrating their commitment to recycling and their confidence in the reliability of the technology. This line completes Phase 2 of PetStar, owned by Coca-Cola and other Mexican investors, that today represents the largest Bottle-to-Bottle recycling plant in Latin America with an hourly net capacity of over 6.000kg/h, handling 1.5 billion PET bottles per year. The PET bottles recycling system is designed to convert post-consumer PET bottles into flakes suitable for processing by an SSP (solid-state polycondensa- tion) system. The flakes produced are said to have a high level of purity and are suitable for Bottle-to-Bottle application. The plant has driven a change in Mexico’s waste management sector by converting the post-consumer bottles into usable and valuable manufacturing input. The non-biodegradable nature of PET bottles has always caused excessive waste disposal problems throughout Mexico but now they can enjoy a second life. The consumption of virgin PET involved in bottle production is consequently reduced. The plant includes a bottle pre-washing, detection, grinding, washing, drying and a final flakes detection in one integrated system running a continuous process. The washing systems enable the complete removal of impurities with a substantial saving of water and chemicals. The Friction Washer, connected with a water-flow recirculation and filtering system, removes any type of polluting material from the PET flakes. The system is a continuous process, not based on batches, where washing process, water temperature, friction level and resident time are automatically controlled and moni- tored. The supplying of this plant is part of a social responsibility programme to eradicate child labour: a reimbursement is provided to those families who col- lect waste bottles, giving them the opportunity of send- ing their children to school. Furthermore, the motto of PetStar “Recycling is giving PET new life” aims to have an educative function: awareness of recycling should start from childhood and children themselves can be an example to their parents and promote action to tackle pollution. www.amut.it