The New Life Plastics Joint Venture is benefiting from the strengths of Baguio’s domestic collection network in Hong Kong, ALBA’s recycling technology expertise and Swire Coca-Cola’s strength in the domestic beverages market, to process recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) beverage bottles and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) personal care bottles in HK.
The JV benefits from the strengths of Baguio’s domestic collection network in Hong Kong, ALBA’s recycling technology expertise and Swire Beverages’ strength in the domestic beverages market.
The NLP facility consists of two production lines, one for food-grade ready PET flake, the other for high quality HDPE flake. The facility has been designed using the latest waste water management, solar water and photovoltaic power capture techniques. It has a viewing gallery to enable tours to be undertaken and to explain how plastic waste which would normally go to landfill can be converted into valuable raw materials to be used in the recycled plastics manufacturing sector.
Our Process
NLP has two processes which run in parallel – a PET processing line and an HDPE processing line. Details for both are below:
PET Recycling Process
PET bottles, usually come in bales, will be de-baled first and then sent at an even speed into the processing line by an in-feed conveyor.
The separated bottles go through an Over-belt Magnet which removes any ferrous metal trapped in the coming material stream. The bottles go into the Bale Trommel which collects bottle shape materials of defined size and rejects items too small and too large. Then the bottles go into the Label Scrapper which scratches the surface of the bottles to remove the label from the bottle.
Bottle sorting according to their types (PET or HDPE) and colours (Transparent or Coloured) will then be processed by five advanced Optical Sorters based on their light reflection wavelength. A computer controls air blasts that send different materials into different storage or next machine.
The sorted bottles are then taken to the manual sorting stations where impurities can be hand-picked.
The manual sorting stations are used to monitor the bottle quality outputted from the previous sorting stages. A metal detector will stop the conveyor belt when metal is detected so that the operators can remove the metal and the conveyor can continue to work.
Clear PET bottles will be sent to Cutting Mill for wet-shredding which provides a combination of cutting and cleaning effects. During the wet-shredding process, dirt and remaining liquids in the bottles are washed away. The next is Dual Hot Washing Stage, use hot water in around 90°C to wash the flakes, industrial detergent, defoamer and Caustic soda (NaOH) will be added to ensure an effective washing process and food-grade ready standard. Clean fresh water is used in the Post Wash Stage to rinse the flakes to make sure removed the remaining caustic detergent then move to dewater and air-dry.
Afterwards, the PET flakes of the right size are sifted through a vibrating tank and a final quality check of their purity is carried out by an Optical Sorter to ensure that only the PET flakes are retained without impurities. The PET flakes, label flakes and cap & ring flakes produced during the production process are collected and blown by air into a dedicated pipeline for filling into big bags.
Each batch is monitored and inspected by our own Quality Control Laboratory to ensure that the highest possible standards are met.
- 1. Preparation
-
PET bottles, usually come in bales, will be de-baled first and then sent at an even speed into the processing line by an in-feed conveyor.
- 2. Separation
-
The separated bottles go through an Over-belt Magnet which removes any ferrous metal trapped in the coming material stream. The bottles go into the Bale Trommel which collects bottle shape materials of defined size and rejects items too small and too large. Then the bottles go into the Label Scrapper which scratches the surface of the bottles to remove the label from the bottle.
- 3. Sorting
-
Bottle sorting according to their types (PET or HDPE) and colours (Transparent or Coloured) will then be processed by five advanced Optical Sorters based on their light reflection wavelength. A computer controls air blasts that send different materials into different storage or next machine.
The sorted bottles are then taken to the manual sorting stations where impurities can be hand-picked.
The manual sorting stations are used to monitor the bottle quality outputted from the previous sorting stages. A metal detector will stop the conveyor belt when metal is detected so that the operators can remove the metal and the conveyor can continue to work.
- 4. Processing
-
Clear PET bottles will be sent to Cutting Mill for wet-shredding which provides a combination of cutting and cleaning effects. During the wet-shredding process, dirt and remaining liquids in the bottles are washed away. The next is Dual Hot Washing Stage, use hot water in around 90°C to wash the flakes, industrial detergent, defoamer and Caustic soda (NaOH) will be added to ensure an effective washing process and food-grade ready standard. Clean fresh water is used in the Post Wash Stage to rinse the flakes to make sure removed the remaining caustic detergent then move to dewater and air-dry.
- 5. Quality Control
-
Afterwards, the PET flakes of the right size are sifted through a vibrating tank and a final quality check of their purity is carried out by an Optical Sorter to ensure that only the PET flakes are retained without impurities. The PET flakes, label flakes and cap & ring flakes produced during the production process are collected and blown by air into a dedicated pipeline for filling into big bags.
Each batch is monitored and inspected by our own Quality Control Laboratory to ensure that the highest possible standards are met.
HDPE Recycling Process
HDPE bottles will go through a similar process except that washing is done at normal water temperature.
Plant
The PET food-grade ready plastic recycling plant is located in Lot T6 of the EcoPark at Tuen Mun District 38. The EcoPark, an industrial park for recycling businesses of Hong Kong, is operated by the Environmental Protection Department of the HKSAR.
The plant is designed to process Hong Kong’s post-consumer PET and HDPE into raw materials which can be sold and used in the re-manufacturing of PET and HDPE products.
The plant is designed to incorporate a number of low impact initiatives – from photovoltaic panels for electricity generation through to heat capture and a closed water system.
Our Partners
