Hygienic shields, commonly known as sneeze guards used in industrial, retail and trade facilities have been essential throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The disposal of these transparent sheets is becoming an issue.
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Krall Kunststoff-Recycling turns used plastic shields into high-quality resources
Female client talking with accountant in bank, sneeze guard is between them. They are wearing protective face masks and surgical gloves for protection against virus
Krall Kunststoff-Recycling has prepared for a sustainable recycling solution. With a powerful infrastructure and state-of-the-art technology, the company can accept and transform them into the single-origin regrinds that are in high demand.
Executive Director Markus Krall said: “The sneeze guard – omnipresent due to the pandemic – is still a rather dormant resource for plastic recycling […] The different but visually very similar plastic types cannot be distinguished [at recycling centres], so that the plates mostly are unsorted and then have to be disposed of as residual waste with costs. By contrast, there is our offer to accept these collected goods and to return them into the raw materials cycle.”
As mechanical recycling is only possible with identical plastics, Krall sorts the materials separately according to fractions before grinding them. Thus the regrind becomes suitable for reuse in the injection moulding or extrusion process for plates and profiles.
Krall added: “As we traditionally also dispose of the production residues of producers and processors, we know quite exactly what to expect. This will mainly be – up to about 70 per cent – polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), followed by about 10 per cent polycarbonate (PC), as well as small amounts of PET-A and PET-G, styrene-based thermoplastics like PS, SAN, or ASA, and PVC.”
The company is introducing an innovative new system configured to safely distinguish and separate even very similar plastic materials. This enables the recycler to offer regrinds with nearly virgin material processing quality.