Largest waste disposal company in Greece relies on German recycling technology

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Annis Bradley
6 years ago
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1 Largest waste disposal company in Greece relies on German recycling technology Be it washing machines or engines: Special shredders gently process six tonnes of electronic scrap every hour (1 st of March 2011) According to the EU directive, 75 to 80 percent of all discarded electro appliances should now be recycled. The reason for this is the large amount of valuable materials inside these appliances, such as copper and precious metals. Until now recycling these products meant manually opening the discarded objects and tediously sorting the materials inside by hand. However this not only takes a lot of time, it is a tough physical job because the workers usually have to dismantle the appliances, some of which weigh tonnes, with a hammer and a screwdriver whilst on their knees. Also, lots of the valuable materials are lost because they are difficult to separate from the rest of the material. EKAN S.A., the central disposal company in southern Greece, has now adopted an automatic method with which large quantities of electro scrap can be processed for recycling. The shredder used here, which can process six tonnes every hour, was developed by engineers of the company Erdwich Zerkleinerungssysteme GmbH from Kaufering in Bavaria. Washing machines, electro-ovens, drinks machines: 25,000 tonnes of electronic waste are sent to the Hellenic Recycling Center (EKAN) in Korinth in Greece every year. More than a third of this material is iron, a fifth is plastic. However the focus here is on the valuable materials, such as copper, brass, aluminium and stainless steel, that are found in the drum inside the washing machine or in the engines and cables. "It is particularly difficult to separate the recyclable materials in large appliances of this kind", explained Norbert Streicher, responsible project manager at Erdwich. Until now, the workers at EKAN have been opening the individual appliances tediously by hand in order to remove the various components. This not only took a long time but was very inefficient; also, the employees were exposed to a high risk of injury when handling these heavy appliances and the fragile materials. This procedure has now been automated: The Erdwich shredder type HT520/2-2000, which was specially developed for electronic scrap, can process large appliances, up to a weight of 450 kilograms, at

2 a capacity of six tonnes every hour. The special system shreds the parts very gently "It is very important when handling these appliances that they are opened carefully to prevent the parts being destroyed by toxic substances and to prevent these substances being released," said Streicher. The engineers at Erdwich have therefore come up with a new shredding method that carefully tears open the appliance thanks to the slow rotating speed and a calm, low-vibration working principle, thereby allowing the parts inside to fall out without being damaged. "At the same time, the method has to be designed so that it is not sensitive to glass, iron and concrete," explained the project manager. Every ripper shaft is moved separately via a high-quality electro-hydraulic drive and is controlled electrically via an SPS automation device. "This allows both the speed and also the forward-backwards cycles of the shafts to be carefully adjusted for every application," said Streicher. Thanks to the ripper segments that can be exchanged separately, the operator can set the required part sizes and edge lengths of the output individually, e.g. 100 times 100 millimetres for the subsequent manually sorting or 300 times 300 millimetres for a downstream machine technology. If the ripper shows signs of wear, the blades can also be welded on within the machine which keeps the maintenance costs very low. Pollutants and valuable materials are separated for the recycling process The electronic scrap delivered to EKAN is initially picked up by grabbers and is transported on conveyor belts to the funnel of the shredder which has an opening of around 2000 x 1200 millimetres. After the scrap has been gently shredded, a magnet separates the free iron material. Then the various materials are sorted manually into two separate cabins: In the first work area, where the iron pieces are sent, the employees sort out the valuable materials, such as copper, then the remaining and intact residual iron is pressed into packages and sent to the melting process. In the second cabin, specialists sort the mixed material to remove free and intact pollutants, such as batteries, mercury, condensers and other materials like cables or stainless steel components. The sorting cabins are attached at a higher level so that the

3 employees can simply throw the collected materials into the respective containers via openings in the floor. After the manual sorting process, the remaining materials land in a screening station with an integrated separation system. Here the small mixed and type-sorted plastics, non-ferrous metal mixes, copper and stainless steel parts and also the broken glass are separated. A granulator then shreds the material to a predefined size so that the machine can easily and automatically sort the plastics and metals in a second sorting system. "This ensures that no valuable materials are lost," said George Tzinis, Head of Engineering at EKAN. "We have also been able to ensure that no pollutants escape into the environment." The collected valuable materials, in particular the increasingly rare copper and also gold, silver and paladium, are sold to highly-specialised companies that use these materials to make parts again for new electrical appliances for households, the entertainment industry and telecommunications. The company Erdwich Zerkleinerungssysteme GmbH was founded by Hans Erdwich as a machine and metal engineering company in The company currently has a workforce of 35. The three core business areas of this machine and plant engineering company are: recycling and reprocessing of valuable materials, the destruction of special waste of all kinds and the shredding of waste to reduce its volume. In the refrigerator recycling system field, Erdwich GmbH is one of the top 3 companies in the world.

The company is the central disposal point in southern Greece and is also the largest recycler of electro scrap in the country. In 2004 EKAN

4 Every year the company Hellenic Recycling Center S.A. (EKAN S.A.), which was founded in 2002, processes around 25,000 tonnes of large electrical appliances including washing machines, electro-ovens, switch cabinets and server stations. The company is the central disposal point in southern Greece and is also the largest recycler of electro scrap in the country. In 2004 EKAN joined the Appliances Recycling S.A. and is therefore a disposal company for electrical and electronic scrap that has been authorised by the Greek Ministry of the Environment. This makes the company the market leader in the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) recycling field. EKAN employs more than 100 employees. Picture material: Picture ID: Ekan.jpg Picture title: Around 25,000 tonnes of large electro-appliances are processed every year by the company EKAN Recycling, the central disposal point in southern Greece. Source: EKAN Recycling Picture ID: WEEE-Müllhaufen.jpg Picture title: According to the EU directive, 75 to 80 percent of all discarded electro appliances should now be recycled. The reason for this is the large amount of valuable materials inside these appliances, such as copper, brass and stainless steel.

Picture ID: Geräte_vorher.jpg und Geräte_nachher.

the disposal expert has installed a special shredder from the company Erdwich

The shredder can process six tonnes of waste every hour. Picture ID: Anlage.

appliances to prevent the parts being destroyed by toxic substances and to prevent

5 Picture ID: Geräte_vorher.jpg und Geräte_nachher.jpg Picture title: To avoid the employees having to dismantle the appliances by hand, the disposal expert has installed a special shredder from the company Erdwich Zerkleinerungssysteme GmbH from Kaufering. The shredder can process six tonnes of waste every hour. Picture ID: Anlage.jpg Picture title: The heart of the system is a shredder that carefully tears open the appliances to prevent the parts being destroyed by toxic substances and to prevent these substances being released. Picture ID: Sortierung.jpg Picture title: After shredding, valuable materials and potentially pollutant components are manually sorted in two separate cabins.

6 Picture ID: Erdwich.jpg Picture title: Hans Erdwich is the managing director of Erdwich Zerkleinerungssysteme GmbH located in Kaufering. More information for readers/viewers/interested people: Erdwich Zerkleinerungssysteme GmbH Hans Erdwich, Managing Director Kolpingstr 8, Kaufering Tel.: , Fax: Internet: Hellenic Recycling Center (EKAN) Thesi Palaio Chorio, Gr Agioi Theodori Korinth Τel.: (0030) , Fax: (0030) Internet: More information for editors Pressebüro Beatrix Gebhardt-Seele Leonrodstraße 68, München Tel.: , Fax: Internet: Reprint free of charge if source is stated - voucher copy requ

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