Tomra equipment featured in new recycling plant

Dec. 18, 2023
The Motala, Sweden, facility features a 3.1-mile-long sorting line and more than 60 Tomra Autosort machines.

Tomra Recycling  Sorting, which designs and manufactures sensor-based sorting technologies for the recycling and waste-management industries, sees its equipment playing a major role in a new plastic sorting plant that recently opened in Motala, Sweden. 

Svensk Plaståtervinning, in collaboration with Tomra and German recycling equipment company Sutco, has expanded its facilities with the opening of Site Zero, which aims to realize a circular economy for plastics.  

Site Zero is equipped with a 3.1-mile-long sorting line and more than 60 Tomra Autosort machines with an approximate throughput of 46.3 tons of recyclables per hour. Post-consumer waste is separated into 12 polymer types, including a variety of polyolefins, PET, PS, EPS, PVC and more, with purity levels of up to 98 percent. The clean material fractions are then sent to recyclers in the European Union, but Site Zero also is planning to add recycling capacities to further process the main fractions locally. 

“We are excited to have such strong and knowledgeable partners at our side,” said Mattias Philipsson, CEO of Svensk Plaståtervinning. “The collaboration in our first project has already convinced us of Tomra and Sutco. It is the quality and flexibility their systems offer and the reliable service that made them our partners of choice. Together, we aim to make Site Zero a blueprint for sorting facilities in Europe.” 

About the Author

David Tillett | Associate Editor

Associate Editor David Tillett writes and edits for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. He covers new products, industry news, patents and consumer and business equipment. He has more than 20 years of experience in daily newspaper, online and magazine journalism.