A company that sells TPO needed a solution to fix 80,000 lbs. of mixed-color material that was rejected by their customer due to the presence of both nylon and TPU (urethane) contamination. Facing a significant loss in material value, the company was looking for options other than trashing the material or selling “as is” for export.

50,000 lbs. of natural ABS virgin pellets had been contaminated with PVC pellets (square) and a trace amount of yellow concentrate and black resin - a result of silo cross-contamination. The material required immediate removal from the silo in order for the customer to get a replacement load of ABS pellets and maintain production.

A multi-national producer of toner cartridges needed a solution to the growing problem of consumer returns and the rising costs of HIPS resin. The returned material contains ABS, HIPS, Acetal (plus several other polymers), urethane and silicone rubber, foam and both ferrous and non-ferrous metal.

A customer had an opportunity to purchase 40,000 lbs. of natural HIPS pellets contaminated with rocks and dirt from a ground spill at a very low price “as is.”  This material also contained wire, metal, wood and several other commingled polymers that made it unusable.

Window manufacturers produce scrap cutoffs and other rejects from the manufacturing of their PVC window products. The window parts can contain locks, handles, springs, weather stripping and other polymers such as nylon and PP.

A silo with natural ABS prime resin had been cross-contaminated and time was of the essence. The source needed to get the material removed from their silo immediately (via bulk truck) so that  replacement material could be received.

A few of our customers specialize in recycling PVC window and siding. To remove metal generated during granulation, they rely upon a metal detector and a magnet. While magnets can remove the ferrous metal (attracted to a magnetic), a metal detector was used to detect and remove the non-ferrous metal. Due to the way metal detectors function, unfortunately they reject several hundred times more plastic materials along with the metal every time they detect the presence of metal.

A compounder acquired what they believed to be clean, clear PC regrind contaminated with off-colored pieces. Thinking they could use the material as received, they blended the material so it could be used in production.

Unfortunately, after the company blended the material they found the material was contaminated with other resins (clear GPPS and clear PVC). None of the contaminants were visually apparent upon receipt.

54,000 lbs. of dark gray/black ABS virgin pellets had been contaminated with wood, cardboard, dirt and rocks from a ground spill.

A company called us in search of someone who had a color sorter thinking that a color sort was the answer to a problem they were having. A bulk truck receiving error had resulted in 110,000 pounds of PP being erroneously blown into the PVC silo - resulting in a major cross-contamination problem. With the material now commingled with an estimated 60% of the PP in the PVC, what they did not understand was that color separators do not give high yields when the contamination level is over 10% by volume.

Security devices cannot be reused and require secured destruction. A North American department store chain needed a solution for handling millions of clothing security devices without having to send them to a landfill and that would allow them to recoup some value for them.

One of the world’s leading manufacturers of PP caps and closures was generating scrap at their manufacturing facilities. This material was generated as whole closures (i.e. caps) or could be ground for destruction and freight savings purposes at their facility. In both cases the material was not suitable for use in the manufacturing of new caps and closures because of the paper/foil cap liners.

Inherent in the process of manufacturing parts is the need to include metal. The metal can be of various forms, weight and thickness. It’s required to make the part function. Most recycling efforts call for the use of manual labor to remove the metal part or assembly prior to grinding. The problem is valuable plastic is lost.

Major manufacturers of irrigation products and services wanted an alternative to sending their otherwise unusable production scrap to a landfill. Irrigation dripline scrap cannot be reused “as is” because of imbedded thermoset silicone emitters and incompatible polymers. In addition to landfill avoidance, our customers also wanted to recover the valuable PE from their dripline scrap and use it for manufacturing new irrigation tubing.

We were approached to find a way to separate Nylon from PET to recover PET. Bottle preforms can be coextruded with a Nylon barrier (above) sandwiched between two layers of PET.