As a family-owned recycling machinery manufacturing company, Lindner, headquartered in Spittal an der Drau in Austria, is gearing up for a future in which the plastics mechanical recycling process is optimised and able to provide seamless solutions for even highly demanding sectors.
Quality, quantity and cost play a key role in the market for recyclates. Lindner is looking beyond its traditional product portfolio -consisting of shredding and washing facilities - in order to broaden its scope. As Michael Lackner, the managing director at Lindner, pointed out, the company’s focus has for years been on ‘processing material flows in the best possible way to recycle as many potential raw materials as possible.’ However, as the requirements of the market shift, the company must adapt.
“We have been quite successful in plastics recycling. Our Lindner Washtech washing facilities are modular in design and can therefore be optimally adapted to the requirements of the respective plastic or recycling process. The NTCP, National Test Centre for Plastics Recycling, in the Netherlands selected a washing facility from us primarily for this reason. But even if the individual components of our facilities are perfectly matched, it is still necessary to broaden our perspective.
To advance plastics recycling, it is essential that the entire process chain, from preparing the material and washing to the finished recyclate, is taken into consideration, said Lackner
“Only when we succeed in taking into account the requirements of the downstream processes, such as extrusion including filtration, compounding and odour optimisation, and when we manage to perfectly coordinate all process steps, will it be possible to achieve optimisations and create new industry standards for our clients – as a recycling pioneer, this is also our declared goal,” he stressed.
In brief, Lindner envisions a future in which the entire recycling process has been optimised and fine-tuned, with each step integrated into the whole to deliver maximum performance.
"That's where we want to advance plastics recycling,” he said.
To that end, the company is working on comprehensive solutions spanning the entire process, from sorting, washing and drying to extrusion and the finished recyclate. A new strategic partnership with an extrusion industry leader will enable Lindner to develop these ambitions into reality.
“By fine-tuning all process steps, we will be able to process plastics with our solutions in such a way that they can be used again in the food industry and other highly demanding areas,” concluded Lackner.