saperatec inaugurated open facility in Dessau-Roßlau

The company saperatec has opened its facility for processing beverage carton and other composite packaging waste in Dessau-Roßlau (Germany). In a novel mechanical-physical recycling process, plastic, aluminum, and paper are separated from composite packaging. The company produces plastic from this process, among other things, for film packaging

saperatec officially opened its facility for the production of secondary plastic and aluminum from composite packaging waste in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, in the presence of the Minister for Economic Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture, and Forestry of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze, and numerous other partners and guests. In this facility, industrial-scale plastic/aluminum composite films will be recycled from beverage cartons and other composite packaging waste. Beverage cartons primarily consist of fiber, plastic, and aluminum layers. The fiber component of beverage cartons collected from households in Germany has been recovered and used to produce cardboard packaging or hygiene paper for decades.

saperatec now separates and cleans plastic and aluminum into pure streams. A novel washing process developed by the company is employed for this purpose. Using state-of-the-art recycling technology, waste plastic is then purified to the extent that polyethylene granules are produced for the manufacture of new plastic films, among other applications. Packaging manufacturers can use this secondary raw material to produce new film packaging, thus closing the material cycle.

Dr. Sebastian Kernbaum, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of saperatec, explains that “as a start-up company, saperatec has systematically developed the mechanical-physical recycling process for delaminating multilayered composite materials from laboratory scale to large-scale implementation over 10 years. Water-based, reusable washing fluids are used to optimize the sustainability of recycling. In addition to separating plastic from metal and paper layers, the separation of glass composites is also the subject of further development work.“

The company employs over 60 staff in Dessau in production, research & development, engineering, and administration.