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Separating glass

 
After passing through the eddy current separator, only glass and plastic containers are left in the mix of recyclable material.

Piercer–crusher unit

piercer-crusher unit – click on image to view it full-size in a new browser window
To enable separation, the glass and plastic have to go into a crusher where:

  • glass is broken into little pieces
  • plastic is pierced and flattened.
Piercer–crusher unit – full-size image

Disc screen

disc screen – click on image to view it full-size in a new browser window
The small pieces of crushed glass can now be easily separated from the plastic by the disc screen. Think of the disc screen as a sieve.
Disc screen – full-size image

How it works: Metal discs mounted on shafts rotate, giving the plastic bottles and broken glass a bit of a shake. The smaller pieces of crushed glass fall easily through the gaps between the discs, and the plastic bottles run across the top onto a conveyor.

De-stoner

destoner – click on image to view it full-size in a new browser window
Before being stored in a bunker, the glass goes through a de-stoner, which removes small items that are not glass but have fallen through the gaps of the disc screen.
De-stoner – full-size image


Sorting plastic

The plastic containers will be further sorted into different types.

Next stage: how plastic is further sorted
Previous stage: separating cans from bottles 

A to Z of Services

Contact the recycling team

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