Austrian plastics recycling facility installs UNTHA shredder

UNTHA, headquartered in Kuchl, Austria, with a U.S. subsidiary in Hampton, New Hampshire, has announced Austria-based Candi Plastic Recycling GmbH is the first company to install a QR series single-shaft shredder at its facility.

Candi Plastic Recycling commissioned a QR1700 shredder in July 2016 for shredding plastics. The company, which specialises in the collection and treatment of nonhazardous waste, says the UNTHA single-shaft shredder was the best fit machine for its facility, including the shredder’s versatility, low energy consumption and multifunctional flap.

In addition to nonhazardous waste treatment, Candi Plastic Recycling opened its doors in 2001 with a focus on the processing of plastics into recyclable regranulates. The company processes approximately 3,500 tonnes of plastics per year.

Gheorghe Campan, managing director of Candi Plastic, says, “So far the QR1700 has fulfilled all my expectations. I am particularly impressed with the multifunctional flap that makes foreign objects easy to remove and the hopper easy to clean. Thanks to its large rotor diameter, the shredder is extremely versatile and able to process all different kinds of plastics.”

UNTHA says the QR series shredders reduce costs for the customers while increasing their operational performance and simplifying their maintenance schedule at the same time. The QR series ranges from a rated capacity of 22 to 180 kilowatts and a cutting unit width of 800, 1,000, 1,200, 1,400, 1,700 and 2,100 millimetres. After a two-year period of extensive research and development, the QR class was first introduced at the IFAT 2016 in May. 

“The customer was particularly looking for a unit that would be easy to clean and could deal with a wide range of different materials - the shredding of filament strings and big bags in particular were key applications,” says UNTHA Project Leader Arno Urbanek.

To ensure that customer requirements could be met in full, UNTHA says it provided Candi Plastic with a prototype of the QR series when trials first began. Candi participated in the development process and ensured that all findings could be integrated in the manufacture and fine-tuning of the end product.

The QR1700 can process all types of plastic, independent of form, condition and properties, and offers a screen system that can be lowered hydraulically and its multifunctional flap, says the company. A safety coupling protects the unit from damage caused by foreign objects. This shredder also achieves higher throughputs than previous models, thanks to the large diameter of the rotor and the increased screen surface, combined with the maintenance-free pusher technology.

UNTHA shredding technology develops and manufactures customized, reliable shredding systems that are used in a wide range of applications, from material recycling to the processing of waste to produce alternative fuels.