The French company Galloo Plastics (1 Av. du Port Fluvial, F-59250 Halliun) part of the Belgian Galloo group (HQ: B-8930 Menen; www.galloo.com), has started up a new EUR 3.8m recycling plant in northern France, near Lille. The facility recycles polymer wastes recovered from different sources. Annual throughput is currently around 12,000 t/y and will be expanded to 20,000 t/y in the next two years. Turnover of the recycling plant was estimated at EUR 3.8m for 2000 and revenue of EUR 6.8m is projected for 2001.

Two years of operation as a pilot project preceded the industrial-scale start-up in November 2000. In the Galloo Plastics process, mixed scrap from post-consumer wastes is crushed and then separated into metal, paper or wood. From the plastics wastes the company recovers thermoplastics and up to now has submitted only polyolefins to further processing. Using a technology based on differences in density, the content is separated and sorted into PP or PE granules. The next step is compounding, in which the mechanical properties are adapted to the customer profile. Sorting operations are completely automated. A purity grade of 98 % can be achieved. The Galloo Plastics process is protected by five patents, from preparation of the plastic fraction down to production of the granules for compounding.

Some of 60 % of granules produced are supplied to tier one suppliers. “Due to the high quality grades of materials required by the automotive industry, we place the highest standards on our production process and ensure homogeneity of PP and PE batches produced” Hugues de Feraudy, general manager of Galloo Plastics told PIE. Estimated production costs depend on the nature of wastes and the treatment process and vary from EUR 0.22 to 0.38 per kilo. For 2001 the company plans to diversify into recycling polystyrenes. At the same time, it is searching for European partners with recyclable wastes who can benefit from Galloo´s recycling knowhow.