EREMA ships 1,000th machine from Austria to US

Founded in 1992, EREMA North America (ENA) distributes recycling systems from the Austrian machine manufacturer in North America. In December 2020, the 1,000th machine for ENA was shipped to South Carolina, from EREMA’s headquarters in Austria. It is now in operation at the facility of recycling service provider PreZero to recycle post-consumer plastic waste.

PreZero US is a subsidiary of PreZero International and started operation in the USA in 2018 following the acquisition of a recycling services provider. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company collects and processes washed LDPE and LLDPE film, containers and lids. The recycling facilities in Southern California and South Carolina process these material streams to produce high quality resins (LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE and PE), which is used as a substitute for virgin material in many applications.

Hendrik Dullinger, Vice President of Business Development at PreZero, said: "This way we prevent this waste material from ending up in landfills. With our recycling facilities on both the east and west coasts, we can significantly shorten transport distances, which in turn also reduces CO2 emissions."

PreZero has been using EREMA recycling technology which now includes the new INTAREMA 1716 TVEplus machine, which has been started up in South Carolina. Equipped with a twin laser filter and used for processing washed LDPE flakes, the machine’s output rate is 3,300-3,900lbs/h (~1,500 to 1,800kg/h).

Complete homogenisation, filtration and degassing of the melt take place in one step, with melt filtration upstream of extruder degassing, due to the TVEplus technology. Only thoroughly melted, filtered and homogenised material can pass the degassing zone of the extruder.

PreZero's goal is to expand its recycling capacity for film and other grades of plastic across the US and promote plastics recycling by working alongside machinery manufacturers such as EREMA, as well as suppliers and customers.