MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 03/24 www.petpla.net 14 Stadler and Krones install Las Vegas Polymer Center – the fi rst of its kind in North America From kerbside collection to sustainable packaging Stadler Anlagenbau GmbH, in collaboration with Krones, has designed and installed the new Republic Services Polymer Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, which processes plastic bottles, jugs and containers to produce plastic materials ready for use in new packaging. The first of its kind in North America, this facility aims to close the circular economy to meet the rising demand for high-quality and food-grade recycled plastic. Republic Services, a leader in the U.S. environmental services industry, has opened North America’s first vertically integrated plastics recycling facility, producing recycled resins for use in sustainable packaging. Krones, acting as general contractor in the project for the new Polymer Center in Las Vegas, worked hand in hand with Stadler, which was responsible for mechanical sorting on the PET and PO lines. The new plant will produce more than 100m lbs/a of recovered resin products that are returned to the circular economy. The new Polymer Center processes pre-sorted plastics collected by Republic Services across the Western United States to recover PET, which is converted into rPET flakes ready to be turned into new bottles, and polyolefins (PO) ready for use in the production of new bottles, jugs and containers. “The Polymer Center is the first facility of its kind in North America,” says Pete Keller, Vice President, Recycling and Sustainability at Republic Services. “It’s the first time a single U.S. company has managed the entire plastics recycling stream, from kerbside collection to production of high-quality recycled resins ready for use in sustainable packaging.” Dual Line plant closes the loop The Polymer Center in Las Vegas sorts and processes the materials, which are delivered in bales, on two lines: one for PET and one for mixed plastics, each with a capacity of 5 t/h. “This is the largest Dual Line plastics recycling plant in the USA,” comments Mat Everhart CEO, Stadler America LLC (a subsidiary of Stadler Anlagenbau GmbH). It is expected to put 100m lbs/a of plastics back into the circular economy by producing highquality, food-grade recycled material ready for use in packaging. The materials fed into the PET line undergo mechanical separation and the singulated material is cleaned of ferrous particles. A Stadler STT2000 ballistic separator sorts the material into rolling (3D), flat (2D) and fines fractions. The fractions go through sensorbased sorting with Near-Infrared (NIR) sorters. Caps, rings, and the 2D fraction go to compactors. The 3D fractions are directed to a Stadler Label Remover to remove the labels. The clear PET, caps and rings are directed to the Krones washing line, which granulates and cleans the material, while the colour PET is compacted into bales. On the mixed plastics treatment line, mechanical separation sorts the infeed into fines and sieve overflow – the latter further separated into light and heavy fractions. The heavy mixed plastics fraction is sorted into four polyethylene (PE) products – natural, white, red/orange/yellow, other/colour – and two polypropylene (PP) products – natural/white and other/colour. PET is sorted out of the remaining material and sent to the PET line. The products of the Mixed Plastics line are conveyed to storage bunkers where a semi-automatic feeding programme allows for materials to be discharged by grade to be fed into the baler. Vertically integrated plastic recycling facility (photos: RS)
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