80,000 TPA Recycling Plant Latest Fruit of 20 Year Partnership : STADLER Delivers Another Recycling Facility for The Schroll Group in France
On the back of a long-standing relationship with German equipment manufacturer, STADLER, French waste and recycling firm, has opened an 80,000 tonne per year recycling centre at La Maix in the Vosges near the town of Épinal.
STADLER explained that in its long history Schroll has earned a reputation for working closely with its customers and suppliers. Based on more than 100 years of experience it develops customised solutions to help its customers manage their waste and recycling efficiently and sustainably, from the beginning of the recycling chain to the end – from collection to sorting and treatment of paper, cardboard, plastics, non-hazardous waste, wood, batteries and lightbulbs, as well as collection and recovery of biowaste.
To help deliver this, since 1999 the company has been working with STADLER on the development of its material recycling facilities.
“At the time of the construction of our first sorting centre, in 1999, we were looking for a company capable of delivering a quality product in a very short time. Our research led us to STADLER,” explained Pascal Schroll, co-owner of the Schroll Group: “Tests were carried out in the STADLER test center to find innovative solutions to meet our needs.”
The German firm has since built five more sorting plants and renovated another facility for Schroll
“The positive experience of these first contacts encouraged us to work again with this company for the development of our other plants,” said Vincent Schroll, co-owner of the Schroll Group. “STADLER’s ability to innovate, developing new products that meet the changing needs has cemented the relationship between the two companies.”
Future-Proofed Plant
The latest project near the town of Épinal was designed to allow for future expansion and the sorting of further fractions, as well as the possibility of installing robots.
STADLER addressed this demand by including two independent sorting lines – one for the treatment of multi-material and one for hollow material: this set-up “gives more flexibility by allowing, for example, to work on one line in 2 shifts and in 1 shift on the other line” explained Clément Stehlin, STADLER Sales Manager.
The multi-material plant takes in the whole 15-tonne/hour input, which is fed into a STADLER PPK ballistic separator and two STADLER STT2000-8-1 ballistic separators for mechanical sorting.
This is followed by optical separation with four Near-Infrared (NIR) devices, and the process is completed with manual sorting. The final output fractions of this line are PCNC (packaging and small cardboard fractions), cardboard, film and JRM (newspapers, journals, magazines), as well as hollow materials which are then fed into the plant’s second sorting line.
The hollow materials line, with a throughput of 4 tonnes per hour, sorts the fractions mechanically and optically, with a final manual sorting. It uses a STADLER STT2000-8-1 ballistic separators, a magnet, a separator for non-ferrous metals and five NIR devices, to produce an output of clear and coloured PET, PEHD, Tetrapak, aluminium, film, mixed paper and residual fractions.
“The STADLER machines in this line are perfect for this purpose and exactly dimensioned for potentially higher throughputs in the future,” said Clément Stehlin.
Designed for Comfort, Safety & Efficiency
The well-being of the staff was an important consideration for Schroll, and STADLER said that its design provides pleasant social premises and good ergonomics at the workstations. The facility also features well planned, quality catwalks to conduct maintenance operations safely and with ease.
Schroll is planning to receive a large number of visitors, including school groups, at this plant, so STADLER designed and installed a viewing platform to offer a good view of the facilities in full safety.
This complex project was delivered on schedule in just 14 weeks, including a week for the start-up of each of the two lines
