In 2012, Bollegraaf refurbished AFE’s Single Stream MRF, an expansion to the existing system, also built by Bollegraaf, to annually recycle 25 tonnes/hr of co-mingled, mixed, and dry materials. The French government selected AFE’s 2008 Single Stream MRF to serve in a pilot project to further increase the separation degree of waste streams. Yannick Gaume, General Manager of AFE, said,

“The objective of the pilot was to explore the possibilities to further reduce waste streams whilst increasing the quality of the recycled material. In 2012, based on previous experience, we approached Bollegraaf to come up with a solution and once again they exceeded all of our expectations.”

The changes to the facility significantly increased the separation degree, especially for paper and plastics. In order to do so, optical sorters were added to the paper and cardboard line, as well as the highly effective PaperMagnet®, a first in France. The revolutionary PaperMagnet® automatically separates light 2D material such as paper, cardboard, and foil from heavier 3D material, such as glass containers, wood, and stone, thus improving the quality of the output and reducing the number of employees needed for quality control. Depending on the circumstances, a separation degree of up to 98 percent is now a reality.

All in all, this was a very lucrative investment for AFE. It enables the corporation to supply 1,100 tonnes extra to the market annually. Yannick Gaume, said, “Bollegraaf’s solution to separate 2D from 3D materials is unsurpassed. It helped us reach our goal to increase the purity of our recyclables.”

Source: Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions