Denmark's largest plastic sorting plant, scheduled to be commissioned in Esbjerg in early 2024, is well on its way. The facility marks the beginning of a new era for plastic sorting and recycling in Denmark and eliminates the need to export plastic waste.
ReSource Denmark's main building spans 173 meters in length, 40 meters in width and 20 meters in height. Every day it is filled with increasingly advanced sorting equipment. The facility will have the capacity to handle all plastic waste in Denmark and contribute to Denmark's ambitious plastic recycling targets. ReSource is designed to extract value from Danish plastic waste and prevent the plastic from being incinerated or exported.
State-of-the-art and flexible sorting
The installation of ReSource's sorting equipment, with a capacity of 160,000 tons of plastic per year, is well underway. German manufacturer Eggersmann is supplying the advanced equipment used to sort the plastic. The process involves removing impurities and sorting the plastic into different types - HDPE, PP, LDPE, PET and PVC - that meet the requirements for both chemical and mechanical recycling. Food and beverage cartons and metals are also sorted out and sent for recycling. As a result, ReSource achieves a very high recycling rate.
"The advantage of ReSource is that we use proven technology on a large scale. This technology is very flexible and allows us to add or change the specific types of plastics during the sorting process. ReSource will also provide traceability from waste to product, which will be crucial for key players in the industry going forward," says Plant Director Lars H. Kristensen.
Expanding the team
Once up and running, the facility will employ 50 full-time employees:
"We are well underway with the recruitment process and are looking for talented colleagues who want to contribute to solving the plastic waste problem. Currently, we are a team of four employees," says the factory director.
However, that number will quickly change as ReSource has several open positions ranging from operators and forklift drivers to maintenance technicians.
Ready to receive plastic
Before taking over the plant from Eggersmann towards the end of the year, ReSource will perform test runs requiring approximately 3,000 tons of Danish collected household plastics, which is the primary type of plastic the plant is designed for.
"We have invited Danish municipalities to test their plastic waste in Esbjerg. ReSource will eventually be able to sort plastic waste from different municipalities in batches, so we can provide feedback to each municipality or supplier on the sorting quality for each plastic grade," Lars explains.
ReSource Denmark has already secured long-term agreements for the supply of plastics to the plant.
"We hope everyone will join us in our efforts to increase recycling and create a circular economy for plastics here in Denmark. We are ready to receive plastic waste from municipalities and waste treatment companies from today," Lars concludes.
