Sorting of recoverable residues from household waste

Sorting of recoverable residues from household waste

The requirements for waste sorting, particularly of household waste, have grown significantly. 

The current discourse is concerned with the protection and conservation of resources with 

the recovery of recoverable materials and raw materials from waste. For companies, economic 

considerations have become increasingly important, along with maintaining competitiveness. 

Accordingly, the trend is continuing towards ever higher material recycling rates, which are 

best obtained by automated sorting.

Many companies are faced with the question of whether the requirements of retrieving recoverable 

raw materials and for recycling are technically realistic, and economically viable. we can offer 

you solutions for these very challenges.

Apart from ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics in particular are sorted out from household waste, 

so that they can provide higher-quality material to the recycling process and thus complete the cycle. 

This primarily affects classic plastics such as PE, PP, PET and PS – dimensionally stable materials 

– but can also be valuable in the form of film.

In a modern sorting plant, household waste is first pre-treated (pre-crushing ,bag opening, sieving, 

manual sorting, ballistics separation) and then processed using magnet and eddy current separation 

for metal recovery, then plastic separation using sensor-based technology from  (UniSort PR, 

UniSort Black, UniSort Film) where materials are recovered.

We offers you high-performance, application-specific magnet technology, for example in the form 

of overhead suspension magnets, drum magnets, or non-ferrous metal separators.

Where our magnet systems end, that is where sensory technology begins.

Our induction sorting systems detect stainless steel and all residual metals 

to sort these following the magnetic separation stage. Organic materials such 

as wood, paper/cardboard/paperboard and all types of plastics are sorted using 

UniSort near-infrared-sorting series systems. In many installations NIR-based 

hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology is replacing labour-intensive manual 

picking to sort the items by material type.

Additionally, you can extend our UniSort series functionality with various sensors 

of different types, thus making even complex sorting tasks realistic in a single 

work step, with colour recognition and metal detection.

In modern systems, one particular challenge is the sorting of flat objects that are 

prone to flying, such as film and paper, because they move around on the sorting 

belt and so cannot be accurately sorted after detection. We address this challenge

 with the STEINERT UniSort Film. Here an airflow is created in the same direction 

of movement as the sorting belt (AOC = active object control), to stabilise this flat 

material on the accelerator belt and so hold it in place during sorting. At the same 

time the UniSort Film unit offers high sorting belt speeds of up to 4.5 m/s and thus 

achieves remarkable throughput rates.

Black and dark-coloured objects are normally not detected by conventional NIR systems. 

The result is that they pass undetected through the sorting process, are not fed into 

the recycling circuit and so do not contribute to achieving the sorting rates. Our UniSort

 Black offers a solution here: By sorting black and dark-coloured valuable residues 

from the waste material stream, it delivers a significant contribution to resource 

conservation and protection while providing the operator with an additional economic benefit.

Your benefits:

All core combinations of magnet and sensor-based sorting systems from a single source

Sorting widths from 0.5 m to 2.8 m available

Fe and non-Fe metals, recovery with magnet and eddy-current technology

UniSort PR technology; sorting of recyclable materials using HSI sensors

UniSort Film technology for sorting lightweight materials and film

Special functions for detecting dark plastics and materials