Reusing conveyor belts

With the help of new technology, PMP Recycling has found a way of reusing plastic conveyor belts. At present, many worn plastic conveyor belts end up being incinerated, even though the plastic they are made of is suitable for reuse. The conveyor belts are used especially in the food and production industries, but when they are worn, there is currently no simple way to reuse them. Consequently, large quantities of usable plastic are wasted.

PMP Recycling is working on a new solution, in which the conveyor belts are dismantled and mechanically sorted. In that way the different types of plastic can be separated, and thus the plastic can be reused in new, high-quality products – instead of being sent for incineration.

The project is a response to an obvious need in Danish recycling companies. At present they have large piles of used conveyor belts which cannot be reused, and are therefore simply stored or discarded.

“With the support of the Vissing Foundation we can now further develop and test our solution, so it can progress from the prototype to a pilot project that can be utilised on a large scale in industry. The project helps to reduce plastic refuse and reduce CO₂ emissions, while ensuring that the plastic is reused again and again instead of being wasted,” says Lasse Maegaard Mikkelsen, co-founder of PMP Recycling.