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A ribbon-cutting ceremony was recently held inside the walls of the Butler-MacDonald, Inc. facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, to mark the commissioning of the newest addition to its plastic recycling operation—a WEIMA W5.22 single-shaft shredder for industrial plastic scrap. This is the second WEIMA shredder the company has purchased, allowing the company to divert tons of plastic waste from landfills and give it new life.
The WEIMA W5.22, previously known as the WEIMA WKS 2200, is equipped with a swing ram and a hydraulic package to meet the demands of the complex plastic waste streams that Butler-MacDonald is renowned for processing. This is the second pre-shredder the company has purchased from WEIMA. The first shredder, a WLK 18 Jumbo with a hydraulic package, is still in operation on a separate line within the plant. The addition of the W5.22 will allow the company to recycle even more complex materials, including bulky PE purgings, glass-filled nylons, and plastics mixed with metals or other foreign materials.
The throughput of the WEIMA W5.22 is maximized because of the swing-ram design. Gravity is continuing to feed the material toward the rotor even when the swing-ram arm is “back.” This shredder also functions at higher horsepower, but because of the way the machine is configured, it is more energy efficient than some machines with lower horsepower. Energy savings doubles down on the company’s desire to help the environment.
Why WEIMA?
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| WEIMA single-shaft shreddder W5.22 |
Scott Johnson, CEO/President of Butler-MacDonald, stated that, despite having worked with other shredder manufacturers in the past, their positive experience with their first WEIMA machine, as well as the capabilities of the new shredder’s ram design and hydraulic package, led him to purchase a second WEIMA shredder. He worked with WEIMA to determine the ideal technical configuration to get the torque they needed to handle these tougher applications.
“The delivery process, as well as the price point, were good. I’ve enjoyed the relationship we have with WEIMA,” said Johnson.
Specialists in recycling
The scrap is sourced from a few different places. About half of their business includes working directly with manufacturers. In these cases, they take the manufacturing scrap, process it on site, and then send it back to the company to be reused or reincorporated into their production streams. The company also purchases various scrap to be size-reduced and sold to other companies who are looking to use more recycled materials in their manufacturing processes.
Butler-MacDonald, Inc., is so well-known for its robust recycling capabilities that other plastic recyclers frequently outsource complicated material streams to be processed in their Indiana facility. Having the right equipment in place to process these polymers is necessary.
