PETpla.net Insider 11+12 / 2017

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 11+12/17 www.petpla.net 16 stf·sorting line stf·washing line professional plastic recycling solutions – made in germany The stf· group is the leading manufacturer of plastic sorting and washing machinery, especially for PET post-consumer bottles, with more than 60 turn-key plants and several single machines delivered worldwide. stf·group Industriestr. 1-3 94529 Aicha v. Wald – Germany fon +49 8544 960-110 mail contact@stf-group.de web www.stf-group.de scan for vCard stf ·group PET recycling in Malaysia Bottles to fibres by Alexander Büchler Diyou Fibre, Nilau, April 11, 2017 We met: Mr Nick Lim, General Manager Only Diyou Fibre recycles PET bottles in Malaysia, limiting themselves to the processing of clear PET bottles. All other kinds go to China. PET recycling is not all that common in many South East Asian countries. No waste separation takes place in Malaysia either, which means used bottles for recycling are collected by rubbish collec- tors. Mr Nick Lim, Diyou Fibre’s General Manager, is compressing around 30,000t into flakes and fibres in Nilau. Explaining his position, Lim said: “Unfortunately, I don’t get enough bottles here so I have to buy them from Europe. In addition, the amount collected seems to vary widely for no apparent reason which, in turn, affects the number I need to get from abroad”. He mainly compresses water bottles into bales. At least 90% of bottles received from local collec- tors need to be of good quality otherwise he does not use the bales. He accepts lower grade purity levels from abroad in the knowledge that high purity content is not available there. He produces fibres which are principally converted into bedding. He has to guarantee the highest purity levels given the filling material is routinely used in hygiene items. This can only be achieved by using water bottles made from raw materials and this places considerable demands on the collector. Given the bottles are only filled with water, he does not have any restrictions on the type of detergent used for double hot washed flakes. The fibres are exported almost exclusively to Turkey, the Middle East and Europe. He hopes that in perhaps 10 years’ time, the Malays will have come to realise the benefits of waste separation as for him it is an easy way of separating recycla- ble, compost and residual waste material. Then we would have made a giant leap forward. www.diyoufibre .com Tour Sponsors: RECYCLING S P E C I A L