Along with the growth in the number of auto shredders being installed, technological advances in these shredding systems have helped boost the popularity of the equipment. During the Bureau of International Recycling’s spring meeting, speakers during the Shredder Committee meeting talking about the growth in some of the advanced technologies that have helped boost overall auto shredder installs.
Jim Schwartz of Metso Texas Shredder noted that wider implementation of gamma ray systems for detecting copper has been a trend. "There has been a significant increase in these machines since last year," he said. "More than 2 million metric tons of material have been analyzed and sold as low-copper shredded scrap." Around a dozen of these systems had been installed to date in America as well as two in Europe, delegates heard.
Scott Newell, with The Shredder Company LLC, explained that modern shredder castings were now built to last far longer while computer controls permitted performance levels that were "more efficient than possible with any operator anywhere in the world".
According to BIR Shredder Committee Chairman Jens Hempel-Hansen of H. J. Hansen Recycling Industry, Denmark, the global shredder population stood at around 900 - with many operators looking either to build new machines or to upgrade existing models. In a similar vein, Schwartz noted that shredders are in greater demand than ever. Since BIR’s 2006 Autumn Convention in Brussels, some 15 to 20 shredders had been installed around the world - including at least six of 6000 HP or higher, he added.
The increasing popularity of shredders in the Middle East was emphasized by Salam Sharif of UAE-based Sharif Metals Ltd. His company was in the process of installing its second shredder and several other companies in the region were mirroring this trend, not only because of the attractiveness of the shredded product to domestic mills but also because of "very short" payback times.
In his report on the activities of the European Shredder Group, Chairman Anthony Bird of the UK-based Bird Group of Companies suggested: "There is technology on the horizon that will allow us to treat shredder waste in the quantities we want." This biotechnology route yielded a biofuel and methane used to produce electricity, he noted.