Pioneers within WEEE recycling

In a scrap yard in Switzerland, right in the middle of the beautiful Alps, you can find one of Eldan Recycling’s customers - Cablofer Recycling SA. The company is a scrap-metal processor dealing with ferrous and non-ferrous scrap on a 40,000 m² plot which has been collected from companies as well as from the general public.

In the beginning of the 1980s, Cablofer rethought the concept of having a scrap yard. Scrap does not have to be worthless just because it has already been used. At this time, national telecom companies started to change from electromechanical switchboards to computerised switchboards. As the old switches were very big and contained a lot of metals such as steel, copper, aluminium, brass and precious metals, the company realised that this was going to turn into a gigantic pile of scrap with high value. The company had a large problem and an opportunity, but did not know how to solve it.

Eldan Recycling was also convinced that there was potential in this market, if it was possible to collect the valuable parts in the electronic equipment. By first crushing the electromechanical equipment into little pieces and then separating them it would, at least in theory, be possible to sell the different materials at a higher price. To see if this was actually possible, Eldan contacted five interested companies to try out the idea. Cablofer was one of five companies which were contacted and, naturally, they wanted to be part of this adventure.

In 1982, Cablofer ordered a standard WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) plant to take care of the telegraphic scrap that they had piled up in the yard. This standard WEEE plant included a ring shredder (Becker 4800), overband magnet, drum wind separator, granulator and separator, as well as conveyors and filter. The plant first shredded the input material into small pieces (<810 mm) in the ring shredder and granulator. It then separated the material into organic material, nonferrous material and precious metals.

For oversized input materials, Cablofer used an existing guillotine shear to cut down the electromechanical switchboards to a suitable size before feeding the WEEE line.

Three years later they purchased a super chopper (SC1412) in order to increase the capacity of its existing cable recycling plant. By reducing the size of input material before putting it into the cable plant it is possible to take in larger cables (which can only be shredded in the super chopper) and also process to a higher capacity in the cable plant.

From 1989 to 1990 the company added to its cable recycling deposit by acquiring a rasper (Rasper 1200) and a separator (C22). The rasper is suitable for preparing, for instance, cables for granulation. It has adjustable knives and screens and different hole sizes are available. The separation table is a vital machine in cable (and other metal) recycling due to its well-balanced combination of air flow and oscillating movements which produce an effective separation of metal and insulation.

Over the next two years, two water separation tables (one for cables and one for WEEE) were purchased. The water separation tables are a good solution for the recovery of metal dust and fine wires from the plastic fraction after metal separation.

The two following years an aluminium cable steel reinforced (ACSR) shear (M16-2) was purchased for the cable recycling plant as well as a heavy granulator (HG122) for the WEEE recycling plant. The ACSR shear (M16-2) is a good solution when processing aluminium cables with steel when this type of scrap is coming on reels or drums.

The heavy granulator is suited for granulation of pre-chopped cables. It has straight block knives in exchangeable cassettes and friction clutches protect the drive system from momentary overload.

In 2001, Cablofer decided to upgrade its recycling equipment and facilities and a new Eldan WEEE plant was purchased. All together, one ring shredder (S1500), one heavy pre-granulator (HPG165), two heavy granulators (HG122) and a separation table (C26) were delivered.

“The reason Cablofer upgraded its equipment in 2001 was because they needed to increase their capacity and wanted to incorporate some new technologies (eddy current separators). The old equipment was sold on the second-hand market - almost 20 years after it first was purchased,” said Bertil Eklöv, Product Manager for WEEE and Cables at Eldan Recycling.

In 2006 Cablofer purchased yet another ACSR shear M16-2.

During 2006-2008, the company wanted to increase the capacity of the cable plant and acquired one fine granulator (FG952), a super chopper (SC1412), a heavy pre-granulator for cables (HPG165) and a heavy granulator, also for cables (HG129).

During the 30 years since the first contact between Eldan Recycling and Cablofer, equipment for both Cable and WEEE recycling equipment has been delivered by Eldan on a regular basis.

Cablofer is said to be one of the first companies in the world to process and recycle what is today known as WEEE. Since the first contact, the relationship between Eldan and Cablofer has flourished. This is demonstrated by the fact that Cablofer continues to install Eldan equipment for the processing of cable and WEEE scrap.

“We are very happy with the good relationship that Eldan Recycling has with Cablofer Recycling, it has been a rewarding and pleasing cooperation for both parties during all these years and we will do our best to maintain this in the future,” said Eklöv.

“The initial investment is perhaps bigger, but we’ve had super choppers continuously running outdoors hassle free for over 19 years,” said Theo Gertsch, Plant Manager at Cablofer Recycling.

Cablofer Recycling SA is active within nonferrous and ferrous metals, scraps (scrap shear 800 t) all over Switzerland and in western France. The factory, in Bex, Switzerland, has existed since 1972 on a site of about 40,000 m², well connected to railways and highways. In 2008, the largest materials sold by trading at Cablofer Recycling SA were iron, copper, aluminium and lead. Potential customers are: chemical, electromechanical, electronic, aluminium and building industries, all kinds of merchant (big to small) and privates, communities, electrical services and railway and transport companies.