The initial situation is EREMA's Intarema series recycling machines have considerable spatial dimensions. An Intarema plastic recycling machine with a length of approx. 20 m is operated in the LIT Factory.

However, the plants can be much larger and several stories high.

Until now, the recycling plants have been operated by a centrally located static control panel. In order to be able to make settings and optimizations for the commissioning of non-centrally located plant sections, it is always necessary to go to the central operating panel.

Plastic is versatile

We know one thing for sure: discarded plastics don't belong in the sea or in our environment. However, fewer seem to realize that plastics are incredibly versatile. Once we distinguish between the different types of plastic, it would be easier to recycle the 0.92 million tons of plastic waste that accumulates annually in Austria. And that would really be benefit the environment!

R-Cycle, opens an external URL in a new window is a LIT Factory partner. The initiative aims to, for example, document packaging properties during production in order to make this information available to sorting and recycling process at the end of a product's life cycle. To this end, a digital product passport is created that contains this product's recycling-relevant information.

A total of 25 renowned partners from business and science are working together to optimize the recycling process and ultimately avoid plastic waste in the environment. The new project, which has a research budget of 6.2 million euros, will run until March 2026 and is funded by the Climate Ministry with 4 million euros.

The goal

Plastic waste belongs neither in the sea nor anywhere else in the environment. But: plastic has many faces. Therefore, a clean separation between the types of plastic is necessary to be able to recycle plastic better. This would make it possible to better recycle the 920,000 tons of plastic waste generated in Austria every year - which would significantly reduce the burden on the environment. In Austria, the recycling rate is currently only 26%. This means there is a need for action: because the EU strategy for plastics envisages a 55% recycling rate by 2030.