Ongoing Anviplas and EREMA co-operation spans generations

Spain-based recycling company Anviplas has been in operation for more than 30 years, generating industrial expertise that now benefits customers throughout Europe, Africa and in Asia.

Its co-operation with EREMA began in 1991, when Anviplas first relied on the technology and service provided by the Austrian recycling machinery manufacturer.

Anviplas CEO Aleix Vintró took over the business from his father Joan, who co-founded the company alongside Aleix’ grandfather and uncle. Now employing 64 people, Anviplas recycles post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste, specifically HDPE and LDPE and PP, into pellets using an EREMA type INTAREMA 1716 TVEplus with screen changer at the site in Barcelona for processing the PP material stream.

This extruder system was developed for handling difficult-to-process materials, such as heavily printed films as well as very moist waste. It is characterised by its optimised three-stage degassing system, firstly by preheating and predrying the material in the preconditioning unit. Then, the screw design allows reverse degassing. The third stage occurs in the degassing zone of the extruder.

Jan Stöger, Sales Organisation Manager at EREMA, explained: "With TVEplus technology this is located after the melt filtration so that only completely melted, filtered and homogenised material can pass through the degassing zone."

Anviplas customers manufacture a vaste range of products using their recycled pellets. From film products to high-pressure pipes, to containers such as tubs, bottles, barrels and crates. All these applications require recycled pellets that meet high-quality specifications.

Vintró said: "That is precisely our strength. We produce the highest possible quality recyclate because we want to continue to offer our customers products that optimally meet their needs and open up business opportunities that are cost-effective and environmentally sound."

Anviplas and EREMA are currently working on improving the recycling process for complex multilayer materials.

In February 2022, the Repeats Group, a pan-European platform for LDPE recycling, made an investment in the Spanish recycling company. This investment represents another step in building a pan-European plastics recycling platform. Anviplas now plans to nearly double its production capacity to meet the growing demand for recycled LDPE in Europe.