(plasticsnews) -- Plastics recyclers may be strapped for supply, but that hasn’t been a deterred them from opening new plants and investing in new wash lines, grinders and extruders to expand their capacity.
For example, one of two new wash lines being added by KW Plastics Recycling in Troy, Ala., began operating earlier this year, and a second wash line — the first major investment by a recycler to process bulky rigid plastics made from injection-high density polyethylene — is scheduled to be completed by early July.
Those two new wash lines will give KW a total of five wash lines that will have the capacity to wash 450 million pounds of HDPE, and 300 million pounds of polypropylene annually.
"Our new wash line for flexible polypropylene is up and running and we are making adjustments to the process," said Scott Saunders, general manager of KW Plastics Recycling. “We expect to be running that line at an annual rate of 50 to75 million pounds of material per year" by late July.
The company’s USD5 million wash line for bulky rigid HDPE plastic is expected to be completed by early July, Saunders said.
That line, which will have the capacity to process 10-12 million pounds of bulky rigid plastics monthly, will recycle items such as carts, crates, buckets, baskets, toys and lawn furniture. "There is more material available in that stream" than in HDPE milk containers and laundry containers, which today constitutes the main source of materials in the U.S. for HDPE recycling, he said.
MRC