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Kautex: Old fishing nets become children’s watering cans

Photo by Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH

Used plastic is not waste but has value. Against this background, Kautex Maschinenbau is presenting different projects in cooperation with renowned partners at K, the world’s most important trade show for the plastics and rubber industry. Here it is clearly demonstrated that upcycling of post-consumer waste (PCR) with appropriate measures lead to ever better results and that the compounds used can be successfully processed into monolayer blow molded products. Kautex identified a children’s watering can as an example application for the highlighted project. This is available as a giveaway at the Kautex booth A16/18 in hall 14.

Old fishing nets get a second life

In the first exemplary project, Kautex worked together with Braskem, the largest polyolefin producer in the Americas. In cooperation with a company specialized in mechanically recycling plastic fibre waste into PCR, the Brazilian company produces a secondary PE compound from collected fishing nets. Kautex then further processed this into children’s watering cans using the blow molding process.

It should be emphasized that the quality of the fishing net PCR was so good, for example in terms of consistent viscosity, that the cans could be produced in a continuous blow molding process without the use of an accumulator head. The project also showed that so-called “maritime waste” recyclates are ideally suited for applications in the garden sector, including playground equipment, garden furniture, and tool sheds.

Upcycling of HDPE

In a second project, further in-house tests at Kautex Technical Center in Bonn were carried out. Here, sorted HDPE PCR from for example milk packaging and shampoo bottles was upgraded in a sophisticated upcycling process.

The PCR material came from PreZero, an international environmental services provider active in waste and recycling management. PreZero is the environmental division of the Neckarsulm-based Schwarz Group, which also owns the retail companies Kaufland and Lidl.

In this joint project, the Austrian recycling machine manufacturer Erema has taken on further processing of the secondary material, including special degassing steps and the use of additives to further improve the material quality. These were contributed by Baerlocher, a global acting additive company.

Sustainability put into practice

“At this year’s K, we are introducing our sustainability vision and mission,” said Kautex Sustainability Manager Huafeng Zhao. “In it, we make it clear that we want to make our customers’ plastic products more sustainable for future generations and actively promote the transition of the plastics industry toward a circular economy. The use of PCR plays a crucial role in this. We are all the more pleased that, in collaboration with Braskem on the watering cans and in a second in-house test with PreZero, Baerlocher and Erema, we have been able to take specific practical steps here.”

Andreas Menzlin, Head of Technical Center, also emphasizes the fact that the production of the watering can with Braskem material could be realized completely in-house: “The small watering can is 100 percent made by Kautex. From the design of the product by our colleagues in Portugal to the construction of the mold at our plant in Shunde, China, to the production at our Technical Center in Bonn, all process steps were carried out in-house. Thus, the production of the watering can is not only an excellent example of sustainability put into practice but also of our BeOne corporate culture.”

For more information, please visit: https://www.kautex-group.com/en/news-and-press/