Bulgaria: Recycling of plastic materials

Part of the extruder line.

Arexim Enginering EAD is a Bulgarian company producing high-tech plastic components for a variety of industrial sectors. The company’s production generates high amounts of scrap, which was difficult to transport or sell. The solution was funding through the Norway Grants for new technology to recycle the scrap and create a green impact.

Arexim Enginering EAD used to generate 4-5 % scrap in its manufacturing process, which was partly paid for by the customer in the form of injection sprues and partly technological waste. The scrap in its original form was not reusable, difficult to transport and almost impossible to be sold.

New technology for recycling

The company aimed at having the ability to process between 1,500 and 2,000 metric tonnes of scrap into ready to use recycled plastic materials, which could be used in its own manufacturing processes or to be sold for further utilization by different producers of plastic products. This would help the company towards meeting the highest environmental criteria globally and be beneficial towards optimizing of its cost structure.

Arexim Enginering EAD invested in the latest technology for extruding the ground scrap material into a recycled material ready to be used again in the existing production process. The extruder line represents a new technological process for Arexim Enginering EAD and it is an integral part of the innovative approach of the company towards all aspects of its material management system. The new extruder line have the same capacity as the existing plastic waste grinder.

The project resulted in an extruder line for recycling and compounding with a capacity of 300-500 kg/h installed and operating. It also created jobs.

Green impact

The company can now recycle approximately 3,000 metric tonnes of plastic scrap annually. The waste is from own production and from sourced material in South Eastern Europe. The upgraded recycled material will be used in the company’s own production of battery containers. Alternative to recycling is incineration, if so approx. 4,000 tons of CO2 will be produced (same as emissions from 2 000 cars in Bulgaria).

The project have a significant green impact in three main ways. It eliminated the accumulation of waste scrap material at Arexim Engineering EAD, it sourced and reused scrap material accumulated in the region and it eliminated the excessive transportation of scrap, grinded scrap and recycled material from various locations in Europe.

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Publisert :

3. mai 2021

Sist oppdatert :

7. juli 2023