Austrian company Starlinger GmbH is a global market leader in the field of machinery and process technology for the recycling and production of woven plastic sacks. Since 1987 the company has manufactured and supplied recycling lines for plastics, and in 2002 established a recycling technology division. This division includes innovative machine solutions for the efficient recycling of a wide range of plastics, including PE, PP, PA, PS, PET and others. Starlinger says they employ a range of recycling technologies and well proven and established machinery, a key component of which is their metal detection supplied by S+S Separation and Sorting Technology GmbH.
At the start of the recycling process, in the plastic shredding stage, reliable metal detection is indispensable since metal contamination can cause damage to downstream components. Starlinger says consistent metal separation prior to shredding reduces malfunctions and increases the profitability of recycling lines. For this purpose, the company uses S+S DLS type detectors, mounted over their conveyor system, upstream of the shredder.
S+S DLS metal detectors are designed to detect magnetic and nonmagnetic contaminants even if they are embedded in product. By removing contamination prior to shredding, costs due to machine damage and production downtime are reduced, product quality is guaranteed, and customer complaints are avoided.
DLS metal detectors also prevent metals from reaching cutting machines and thus avoid wear and broken cutting tools. They reduce downtime and maintenance costs, improve the quality and value of cut material, and reduce malfunctions and off-time in downstream processing machines. Overall, they minimize quality defects and rejectrates in recycled plastic materials. Andreas Pechhacker, technical manager of Starlinger’s Recycling Technology division is very satisfied with his metal detection results so far.
"Starlinger has used S+S metal detectors for several years,” he says. “The systems are highly robust, offer flexible installation capability, and operate with outstanding reliability. Return on investment is ensured in a very short time because the blades of the agglomerator or single shaft cutter and downstream extruder screws are protected.
“Expensive repairs are a thing of the past,” continues Pechhacker. “S+S metal detectors have helped us reach our objective of ecological and economic efficiency and sustainability – from the raw material to the woven sack, and back to the recycled material again."
