German recycling machinery specialist Vecoplan (Bad Marienberg; www.vecoplan.com) has opened an operation in Ferrara, in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, replacing a distributor for its equipment and parts with a dedicated service to the country’s plastics sector.

The facility, which has an area of about 500 m² and is currently staffed by five employees, also includes a workshop. Vecoplan’s specialists also plan to weld special components, such as rotors.

Vecoplan has also supplied processing and storage equipment to Israeli cleantech company UBQ Materials (Tel Aviv; www.ubqmaterials.com), which is to be used in the production of bio-based thermoplastic material consisting entirely of unsorted household waste.

UBQ Materials’ plant in Bergen Op Zoom, the Netherlands, where the equipment is to be used, is expected to have a production capacity of 80,000 t/y. Start-up for the new facility is planned for 2023. According to Vecoplan, UBQ has patented the thermoplastic material as a sustainable substitute for petroleum-based plastics. For Vecoplan this is the largest single order in its history.

Related: Recyclate supplies failing to meet demand: Vecoplan

Vecoplan has also installed a demonstration and testing facility at its new technology centre in Neunkhausen, Germany, where customers can run cleaning tests with film waste and thin-walled hard plastics made from polyolefins like LDPE, HDPE, and PP.

The facility, which features a new combination of machines for cleaning plastics, processes the waste material, turning it into high-quality extrudable flakes for use in the manufacture of consumer goods, packaging, and cosmetics.