Whether it’s paper, e-waste or leftover plastics, the key to recycling materials is sorting. At a pilot plant at the TOMRA company in Mülheim-Kärlich, in western Germany, experts are testing ways of separating waste materials.
Sorting plastic bottles is no problem, but up until now a huge challenge was posed by metal alloys, which generally had to be downcycled. The company is now testing technology developed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen. It will enable alloys to be sorted in order to recover high-value materials.
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