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Choosing the Right Recycling Machine: PP Raffia/Woven VS Hard Plastic Regrind Recycling

2023-02-20 | Technical Blog | By Resul Gökpınar |

There are plenty of plastic material types that we use in daily life as well as in many different industries. In addition to different polymer types of them, these plastic materials also come in different shapes, sizes, textures, and levels of stiffness. These are the main points that plastic recycling machines should specialize to process certain types of plastics more efficiently while still capable to process various types of other plastic materials.

Which plastic recycling machine is good for you?

One of the most important factors while choosing the right recycling machine for your business is the material itself (type, shape, condition). Recyclers and plastic producers might need to process different types of materials. In this case, focusing on the main material type in your selection can be the most efficient way.

PP Raffia and Woven plastic recycling line

( Raffia/Woven pelletizer )

Hard Plastic Regrind Plastic waste recycling system

( Plastic regrind pelletizer )

In this regard, here we evaluated two different plastic recycling machines that focus on PP Raffia/Woven and Hard Plastic Regrind recycling as the main material type.

1. Shredder integrated plastic recycling machine for raffia/woven

Many plastic materials must be eventually crushed before feeding to the recycling extruder. In the classical method, this process can be done separately before the extrusion process and the material is stored, then extrusion and pelletizing steps can take place in another process.

This method requires longer time and more labor effort. Also, you will need more space in your factory to place the separated shredder and store the crushed materials. Therefore, this is considered less efficient if you process clean in-house materials (industrial plastic wastes).

Repro-One is designed as a solution for this problem. Single shaft shredder integration makes this machine a time, labor, effort, and space saver for processing PP raffia, woven bags, un-crushed clean big-sized plastics, lumps, and many different materials. Because the recycling system combines shredding, extrusion, and pelletizing processes end-to-end in one step.

( Shredder Integrated plastic recycling machine operation steps )

2. Hard plastic regrind recycling machine for PE, PP, ABS, PS, PC, PU

Plastic recyclers and producers might have their hard plastic materials or soft packaging materials in pre-crushed form (E.g., washed and dried materials). For these kinds of materials, a plastic recycling machine that provides a fast and direct recycling process would be more efficient.

Repro-Direct is especially the favorite plastic recycling machine of regrind recyclers and injection molding manufacturers. Besides pre-crushed hard plastic regrinds of PE, PP, ABS, PS, PC, and PU; this plastic pelletizer is also more efficient for processing washed and dried flakes from packaging materials such as film, raffia, and foam.

( Hard plastic regrind recycling machine operation steps )

Because, for these kinds of materials, Repro-Direct has the advantage of less power requirement, and provides a faster and easier machine starting/stopping process. Materials can be fed into the hopper directly via screw conveyor without the need for pre-heating before extrusion, and the feeding speed is optimized automatically to achieve the uniform size and shape of pellets.

Differences between PP raffia/woven & hard plastic regrind recycling machines

While the extruders and the pelletizing units of these two different plastic recycling machines can be customized in similar ways, The main differences come in the material feeding and preparation for the extrusion process.

Difference between the two types of plastic recycling machines
	Repro-One	Repro-Direct
Material Type	PE, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, BOPP, CPP, OPP, PA, PC, PS, PU, EPS	PE, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, BOPP, PA, PC, PS, PU, EPS, ABS
Material Shape	Raffia (Tape & On roll) Woven bag & FIBC, Plastic bulks, Clean big-size plastics, Plastic lumps, etc.	Hard plastic regrinds, Pre-crushed bottle flakes, Injection regrinds, Pre-crushed food containers, Washed & dried film flakes, etc.
Feeding Type	Belt conveyor	Screw feeder/ Belt conveyor
Hopper	No	Yes
Force Feeder	No	Yes (Perfect combination with the hopper)
Cutting integration	Single shaft shredder	No

( A quick comparison table of Repro-One and Repro-Direct plastic pelletizers )

As we see, choosing the right plastic recycling machine for your materials plays an important role. If you have multiple materials to process and are not sure about which plastic pelletizer is the best fit for you, you can contact POLYSTAR. Our sales specialists will work with you closely, and help you to find the best solution for your plastic recycling business.