Issue 267 2024-07-10 Author : POLYSTAR MACHINERY CO., LTD. Subscribe Now

Plastic Pelletizer Comparison for In-house Plastic Film Recycling

In-house plastic film is usually clean and can be reprocessed right away without extra procedures. But what kind of recycling equipment you should invest in to make the best use of it?

For in-house plastic film recycling, POLYSTAR has two recommended solutions: the Cutter-compactor Plastic Pelletizer, Repro-Flex, and the Air-cooled Plastic Pelletizer, Repro-Air. Both recycling machines can process HDPE, LDPE, and LLDPE clean post-industrial plastics like film, bags, T-shirt bag cut-offs, and edge-trim waste. However, Repro-Flex can deal with more kinds of plastics such as PP, PS, PA, etc. Let’s take a closer look at what they feature and their advantages, which are the main differences between them.

1. Air-cooled Plastic Recycling Machine

Repro-Air is an air-cooled plastic pelletizer that can only process HDPE, LDPE, and LLDPE soft plastic. It is suitable for plastic film and bag producers to recycle their factory waste such as PE film and bag defects, edge-trim waste, and T-shirt bag bundles.

Advantages of Air-cooled Plastic Pelletizer:

Compact design

Compactness is one of the best features of Repro-Air which enables it to be placed right next to blow film or bag-making lines for immediate recycling. Moreover, with its simple structure, Repro-Air is suitable for beginners who have limited budgets and resources.

Direct feeding

HDPE, LDPE, and LLDPE film scraps, bags, and cut-offs can be fed manually by the operators through the feeding window. The plastic waste will directly enter the extruder. For film-on-roll recycling, most of the film producers install a nip roller to improve efficiency and productivity.

Water-free Pelletization

The operation of Repro-Air does not require any water as it applies air-cooling systems. The output pellets coming from the hot die face pelletizing are 100% dry; therefore, it can reach a higher percentage of reusability and the pellets can be back into the production line immediately.

Air-cooled plastic recycling system

( Air-cooled PE film Recycling Machine )

Read more: 2 Reasons Why Air-cooled Recycling Extruder Can be Better than Water-cooled Pelletizing? - Blog

2. Water-cooled Plastic Recycling Machine

Our top-selling recycling model, Repro-Flex, enables producers to recycle their waste in one step as the machine integrates cutting, extrusion, and pelletizing. Repro-Flex is capable of reprocessing PE/PP film, pre-crushed PP raffia, rigid regrind, and many more. It is suitable for plastic film producers, PP woven producers, and recycling centers to recycle post-industrial waste and post-consumer waste.

Advantages of Water-cooled Plastic Pelletizer:

Built-in cutter compactor

With this feature, plastic waste is crushed and preheated after being fed into the recycling machine. It eliminates the need of an extra crusher. The cutter compactor directly and constantly feeds the material into the extruder, ensuring a fast and stable feeding.

Effective degassing and filtration system

To obtain higher-quality final pellets, the degassing system is crucial in removing ink and extra moisture, while the filtration system helps filter out the impurities. The process is particularly important when dealing with printed and slightly contaminated waste. Repro-Flex provides a range of degassing unit options and a dual piston filtration system for the different requirements of plastic manufacturers.

Bigger capacity

With the bigger amount of plastic waste that can be processed as well as the high-speed hot die face pelletizing (water-ring pelletizing), Repro-Flex is efficient with the maximal capacity which reaches 1,200 kg/hr, fast turning your plastic waste into valuable resources and achieving ROI (return on investment).

high quality recycled pellets from the cutter compactor plastic recycling machine

( Water-cooled Plastic Film Recycling Machine )

Read more: 3 Benefits You Must Know About In-house Plastic Recycling - Blog

Conclusion

Repro-Air is more than sufficient for plastic film or bag producers who have limited resources, a lower capacity requirement (45~50 kg/hr), and specifically recycling in-house soft plastic.

Repro-Flex, on the other hand, is suitable if there is a bigger amount of plastic waste to be recycled or a possibility of expanding waste diversity, which would require the need for cutting and degassing.

Before making decisions, make sure you take everything into account, including what types of plastic will be reprocessed, how tight your budget is, and how much space your factory has. Once you have your ideal model in mind, Contact us.