An efficient separating technology enables German Vogt Plastic to perform a safe and efficient separation of mixed plastic in order to reuse it in new green packaging products.Superfos’ newest sustainable packaging solutions benefit by the innovations from Vogt Plastic which can transform collected mixed plastic into perfectly usable recycled plastic. A unique technology makes the German factory’s separating process both quicker and safer compared to similar factories all over the world.
When the factory receives the mixed plastic from Duales System Deutschland, they first shred it and filter out all metal by using a big magnet. Then a mill grinds it into small flakes, and when all paper material is filtered out, the plastic material goes through several washing steps, before it is collected in a centrifuge.
- The important progress in our factory is our electrostatic separate system that enables us to sort the different kinds of plastic. Thereby, we can assure our customers, e.g. Superfos, that they get pure PP plastic – all ready to use in new sustainable plastic packaging - says managing director Andreas Vogt from Vogt Plastic.
Though the PP material currently is used only for non-food packaging solutions, the use of recycled plastic brings massive reductions in the CO2 emissions of a packaging product. Generally speaking, it is possible to reduce the carbon footprint by 8% through the use of post consume raw materials.
A good example on these savings is Superfos’ first packaging solution produced from 100% recycled material, UniPak EcoTM. The solution is used by Aquados for laundry detergents. As Aquados use 1,960,000 containers per year, the yearly savings add up to 39.2 tons of CO2 – equivalent to the emissions from an average car going around the world 5.5 times.
As if the recycled plastic material wasn’t enough, Vogt Plastic also makes use of the process’ residual product. It is simply incinerated, thereby creating heat for local factories and others. This way nothing is wasted in the factory. Furthermore, Vogt Plastic plans to build a second factory in order to meet the expected future demands without compromising on the company’s high standards and security of supply.
- It feels very good to help creating more sustainable packaging solutions. Reuse and recycling is absolutely important factors if we want to protect the environment and make a more sound use of the worlds resources. And as more and more PP containers reach the consumers all over the world, I truly feel that we play a part in changing something for the better - Andreas Vogt ends.
