Terra Electrorecycling plant opens in Poland

Terra Electrorecycling, a subsidiary of the Elemental Group, opened one of the most modern e-waste processing plants in Poland in Grodzisk Mazowiecki near Warsaw.

Photo courtesy of Terra Electrorecycling

The plant, built by the German company URT, can process up to 100 refrigerators per hour, regardless of the type of refrigerant used, while older technology allows 60 Freon refrigerators or 30 pentane refrigerators to be processed in the same time. These appliances then will be shredded, while other e-scrap will be dismantled manually.

“The change in refrigerator production technology primarily drove the decision to build a new installation,” says Anna Kostro, chief operating officer, e-waste, metals and environmental management, Elemental Group, which is based in Luxembourg. “Today, in our part of Europe, pentane refrigerators are mainly being introduced to the market, replacing their Freon predecessors. Our latest technology is fully adapted to process pentane and recover raw materials from modern refrigerators.”

The new plant has a targeted capacity of 70,000 tons of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) per year, 200,000 tons of which will be refrigerators.

Processing will be divided into several stages. In the first stage, the equipment will be prepared and ground. Then gas will be extracted and raw materials separated, evaluated and classified.

“We anticipate that as much as 99 percent of the e-waste processed in our plant will be reused,” Terra CEO Sebastian Królik says. “The raw materials we obtain in the recovery process will go to the largest steel mills, foundries, recyclers and alternative fuel producers in Poland and abroad. The creation of this installation will enable the recovery of the purest high-quality raw materials, such as steel or nonferrous metals.”

The investment in Grodzisk Mazowiecki brings several benefits to the local community, the company says, including economic growth and new jobs.

“About 40 people will work in the new hall in two shifts. However, we expect that as the company grows, the demand for workforce will increase, resulting in us launching a third shift and hiring new employees," Królik says.