Stadler installs light packaging plant

Germany-based recycling and sorting equipment supplier Stadler Anlagenbau GmbH has opened what it says is a state-of-the-art light packaging sorting plant for Vaersa in Alzira, Spain.

Vaersa is a Valencian public enterprise that provides services related to environmental management, including waste management aimed at achieving a circular economy. The company began managing light packaging sorting infrastructure for the Valencian community in 2000, including four packaging facilities, along with the implementation of separate waste collection.

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In 2023, Vaersa decided to invest in upgrading and expanding the capacity of its Alzira plant to address the increasing volumes of end-of-life light packaging and to improve the quality of the output for recycling.

The project included designing the sorting line to prioritize maximizing recovery, facilitating operation and ease of movement within the facility and enhancing operating efficiency through the placement of every piece of equipment and the implementation criteria.

Key to the project, the company says, were ergonomics and safety of plant personnel in all aspects of operation, from sorting tasks and quality control to cleaning, operation and maintenance.

“The Alzira packaging sorting plant was the oldest of the Vaersa plants and therefore the least automated,” says Noelia Almiñana Lledó, head of Vaersa Waste. “Our foremost and greatest challenge was to implement an automated processing line that would double the existing plant’s capacity in the same space. Stadler designed a compact process line that fits the available space, incorporating the most modern sorting technology without compromising its operation, performance and efficiency.”

The facility’s capacity has increased from three to eight tons per hour, making it one of the largest sorting plants in Spain by capacity.

“One of the main challenges was that we were replacing an existing plant,” Stadler Operations Manager Ismael Avilés Ortega says. “This required a meticulously studied design to fit within the existing building, making the preparatory work of our engineers crucial.”

The plant design automates the sorting process with two Stadler STT2000 ballistic separators that separate the flexible and 3D materials, magnetic and eddy current separators that sort metals into ferrous and nonferrous and optical sorters that recover recycling materials. The output is sorted into polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), film, Tetra-Pak, mixed plastics and ferrous and nonferrous metals.

At the end of the process, the recovered materials are baled and sent for recycling. According to the company, the new plant design also aids the sorting process and improves the quality of the output fractions, supporting Vaersa’s commitment to advancing towards a circular economy.

According to both companies, the facility’s flexibility allows for further expansion in the plant’s capacity to handle an expected increase in incoming waste due to growing public awareness. Stadler says the new facility can adapt to potential changes in the characteristics and composition of input materials. Stadler has allocated space for new equipment and possible process adaptations in the future.

The company says communication and close collaboration of all parties involved in the development and implementation were critical to a successful outcome due to the complexity of the project.

“It’s worth highlighting the good planning of the works and compliance with all the execution deadlines,” Lledó says. “We are impressed by the professionalism of Stadler’s highly qualified staff, the technical capability of its entire team, from the projects department, which designs the best possible solution for the requirements, to the assembly staff, always available to resolve any unforeseen event.”