Gripples Safely ‘Baling Out’ in Austria

In 250 Rewe stores across Austria, England-based Gripple Limited wire joiners are currently securing and tensioning the wire and wire rope used to bale waste cardboard packaging for obligatory recycling, eliminating the traditional yet hazardous use of wire knots, according to a Gripple press release.

The potential use of the Gripple wire joiner in this application was first identified by Gigant, an Austrian engineering office and Rewe's technical partner, who were looking for a safer and simpler method of securing the bales. 

The company found the answer in an Austrian vineyard, where Gripples are used to tension trellising, and bought a quantity for testing. When this proved successful, 20,000 medium Gripples were ordered from the UK, which are used daily in conjunction with Gripple Tensioning Tools to speed up the procedure further.

Andrea Williams, the Gripple regional sales manager responsible for agricultural sales in Austria says, "This is an unexpected yet very exciting opportunity for Gripple. Rewe has more than 1,900 stores across Europe, so potential sales could reach 200,000 units annually."

According to the press release, since the 1989 launch of the patented Gripple wire joiner and tensioner, 265 million have been sold across 85 countries, with exports representing 80 percent of production.