Clear concept from material to material
recycling aktiv 2011, Karlsruhe,
Baden-Baden/Germany (18.-20.05.2011)
At the unique and largest trade fair for material recycling – the recycling activ 2011, exhibitors from various branches will demonstrate the kind of recycling technology which will make the new, secondary use of material possible. Material recycling is a vast area and now it is no longer only an economic factor. Recycling is also the understanding of the finite nature of our resources. According to a current Forsa opinion poll, 97 % of Germans think that raw material recovery from recycling is a central task to supply raw materials to industry. Since this is a fact, not every friend of recycling can carry out a program alone to “make something new out of something old”. There have been experts for this task for a long time now in economic structures with the necessary technical equipment in order to remain competitive. A representative cross section of these technically exacting solutions will be shown in operation at the recycling aktiv 2011. So far about 80 exhibitors have registered with about 115 brands. Due to the move to a new area of the Baden Airpark, this time a 35 % larger area is available for the fair compared to the previous event in 2007. Around 76 % of the 55 000 m² have been booked so far.
At present, only a few months before the fair begins, the fair choreography of those exhibitors who will participate in the lifelike demonstrations is taking shape. During the recycling aktiv 2011 they will chop, press, cut, tear, pelletize, clean, collect, load and store to give a live presentation of how scrap, paper, wood, plastic and numerous other materials become valuable secondary raw materials (Fig.). All these important steps are necessary for careful preparation of the material for a second product life and each recycling branch places its trust in individual solutions. It goes without saying that used paper requires a different type of preparation than plastic, green waste, wood, glass, concrete or steel. Of course, there are also bidders for various branches with solutions correspondingly adapted to a basic concept.
The second recycling aktiv will certainly be an exciting show. In addition, the fair has an interesting development potential. Sooner or later there will be no way round a Europe-wide ban on the landfilling of untreated waste, such as is already in force in Germany or Austria. This measure will become an important element to basically strengthen the high-quality material utilization. Furthermore, there is the firm intention to make the 17 metals summarized under the collective term “rare earths” again available for second use by means of clearly more intensive recycling activities. These metals play an important role for the high-tech industries. Of course, this will not require the very big machinery. First of all an expert network will be needed as described in a current study by the Öko-Institut. The task of these experts will be the development of a functioning recycling system that will certainly be used in the fields of precision mechanics, metallurgy and chemistry. For example, in addition to pure gold, copper and silver, old cell phones also contain some rare earth elements. The automobile, solar and electronics industries require these metals permanently. It looks as though after some advances in recycling technologies, this topic could also perhaps already play a role during the next but one recycling aktiv.
GEOPLAN GmbH, Iffezheim (D), Tel. +49 7229 606-0,
www.geoplanGmbH.de; www.recycling-aktiv.com
