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Often the most significant factor in rotomolding, masterbatch, or recycling is material cost. When the raw materials budget is saved or when additional scrap is used, it is an immediate boost to profits. This is where the high performance plastic mill can come in handy. At present, Zhangjiagang Huibang Machinery Co., Ltd. has assisted more than 1,500 customers to convert wastes into value. Let's explore the "ROI" of how the right plastic mill can save you money in your overall material cost.
Scrap and Rejects Recycled Into Reusable Feedstock
Waste startup purging, edge trimming, off-spec products and returns are produced on all production lines. If there is no grinding in house, then you are paying to remove this material, you are also buying virgin resin to replace this material. All this changes with a special purpose plastic mill. You can crush the scrap and then add it back to your process at 10-30% of your metal with no impact on product quality. A plastic mill can regrind the material into a fine powder and mix it into the virgin powder in the rotomolding process. Reclaimed material may be used for black or dark colours to make masterbatch. These avoidance costs of disposal and virgin purchase are greater than the cost of the equipment in less than one year.
A Reduction in Virgin Resins Can Be Achieved by Controlling the Particle Size
The level of virgin resins used can be reduced by controlling particle size. A particle size distribution is a cost driver that is not always taken into account. Good uniformity of powder can be obtained by good plastic mill design (tighter packing of powder, better flow and faster melting speed). This means that the amount of additive can be reduced or even less cycle time. The use of quality plastic powder from quality plastic mill reduces pinholes and plastic waste in rotomolding. In masterbatch production, finer dispersion of the pigments at lower loadings can be achieved at the same colour level as conventional grinding, by using a plastic mill. That's the savings that accumulate with each week's tonnage and it's an impressive total.
Lowering Energy and Maintenance Cost Per Ton
The various designs of plastic mills do not have equal operating expenses. The electricity consumption per kg and the frequency of changing screens will be greater in case the hammer mill is old or small in size. The optimized rotor structure and wear resistance liner of a modern water-cooled grinding mill can help reduce the specific energy consumption by 15-25%. This reduces spares usage and downtime, as well. Remember to include power usage, blade/disc replacement costs and labor costs for cleaning when calculating ROI. Not only does the initial investment cost more, but the operating costs are reduced as well because of the use of a better plastic mill, and the increased cost is recouped in 6-12 months of use.
Enabling In-House Toll Grinding or Material Sales
For larger units a plastic mill may be a profit centre and not a cost centre. In case of surplus grinding capacity, you can provide toll grinding service to the surrounding molders and recyclers near you. High value scrap (mixed plastic films or purgings) can be turned into powder and sold for to other industries, such as wood plastics composites or rubber fillings. The Zhangjiagang Huibang Machinery Co., Ltd. has been providing plastic mill systems to help customers develop new streams of revenues from the waste streams, valued at tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Calculating Your Simple Payback Period
Here's how to make up your own ROI. Numbers to gather: virgin resin cost ($/ton), quantity of the scrap (monthly), the disposal cost ($/ton), cost of an appropriate plastic mill (including installation). Assume 70% of material is considered to be regrind. Monthly savings = Monthly scrap tonnage x percent reclaimed x (virgin resin price + disposal cost savings). Keep installed power and maintenance to a minimum. Find the monthly net savings and then divide machine cost. The payback for the small to medium processors is 8-18 months.
Conclusion
A plastic mill is no more a machine, it's a money saving device. It brings instant return on investment by optimising particle size distribution, using re-used waste as feedstock and reducing energy costs. Welcome to use your own scrap material with the plastic mill machine from Zhangjiagang Huibang Machinery Co., Ltd. See the yield, calculate the saving and refer to the numbers.