PETpla.net Insider 11+12 / 2017

8 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 11+12/17 www.petpla.net WikiPETia .info New contents at wikipetia.info Erema North America Discovery Day 2017 Erema’s Discovery Day - already established in Europe - has now been held for the first time at Erema North America in Ipswich, Massachusetts, under the title “Circular Economy In Action”. Over 100 customers and interested attendees were given an insight into the latest technical developments emerg- ing at Erema and discussed the current upswing of recycling in the North American plastics industry. Martin Baumann, Vice President Sales at Erema North America (ENA), opened the Discovery Day 2017 with the words: “Not only the recycling industry, the entire plastics industry as a whole is experiencing drastic change.” This statement cor- responds with the remarks made by Patty Long, Executive Vice President of the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), who, as keynote speaker, elaborated on the increasing relevance of recycling in the North American plastics industry. “Members of the entire plastics industry are calling for more sustainable management of plastics through innovation and the creation of products that are designed for recycling, from inception to end use”, says Patty Long. With a total of over 650 Erema systems in operation, the USA and Canada rank among the most important sales markets for Erema recycling technology. “There is one aspect, however, which sets the USA and Canada aside from other markets – and that is their enormous growth potential. The change of think- ing in the industry will without doubt be intensified by China no longer being an international customer for post-consumer waste plastic. As, unlike waste plastic, high-quality recycled pellets can still be exported to China, this represents a great opportunity for plastics recycling in North America,” says Martin Baumann, summing up. The focus of the technical presenta- tions was above all on the recycling of clean production waste and post-consumer recycling (PCR). The filter system is crucial, especially when recycling municipal PCR, to process heavily contaminated plastic to make high-quality recycled pellets. In connection with this, the new Erema business unit Powerfil was presented for the first time. The proven melt filters are now also available as individual components for existing extrusion plants. ENA Technical Center expansion Participants were given an insight into the recycling solu- tions presented in the form of live demonstrations on four Erema systems. Thanks to the addition of an Intarema TVE- plus RegrindPro at the Technical Center, existing and potential customers from the USA and Canada now have a total of five recycling machines at their disposal for material trials. The new addition to the machines which make up the Technical Center is a brand new RegrindPro, with top technology for the efficient processing of regrind material. It features a high-performance Erema Laserfilter with which unwanted impurities even from heavily contaminated materials can be removed, including contaminants such as rubber, silicone, paper or aluminium which are otherwise difficult to filter out. www.erema.com Otto Hofstetter AG opens branch in Luxembourg On November 1, 2017, Otto Hofstetter AG, the manufac- turer of moulds for PET preforms and the packaging industry, opened a branch office in Luxembourg. With this new office, the family-owned company from Uznach, Switzerland, is expand- ing its international presence and increasing its proximity to its customers in the EU. Otto Hofstetter Luxembourg SA will start out with a team of six specialists. The core competences of the branch will be design and consulting. The team consists of highly skilled specialists with decades of experience in the PET industry. With the new location in Luxembourg, Otto Hofstetter AG is now much closer to its numerous customers in the Benelux countries, in France and in Germany. The experienced design engineers in Luxembourg will support the team at Otto Hofstet- ter’s headquarters. Regarding the expansion, Otto Hofstetter, owner and CEO of the Swiss mould manufacturer, said the following: “Our new location allows our customers and ourselves to benefit in three ways.” The market is moving increasingly towards individual solutions, while the speed of innovation continues to increase and the amount of time available for projects continues to decrease. “Today, the goal is to increase flexibility while main- taining quality and reliability.” Otto Hofstetter is sure that Otto Hofstetter Luxembourg SA will allow the company to meet this need at any time. Management at Otto Hofstetter AG wants to fully integrate the specialists in Luxembourg in three months at most. www.otto-hofstetter.swiss From left: Mike Horrocks (CEO, Erema North America), Patty Long (Executive Vice President, Plastics Industry Association), Martin Baumann (Vice President Sales, Erema North America)