Argentina is renowed for it’s thriving agricultural sector, cultivation of various crops making the country a significant global exporter of agricultural products. However, this productivity comes with environmental challenges, particularly the generation of plastic waste. The disposal and management of this waste can result in soil and water pollution.
Addressing the plastic waste in agriculture needs technology and know-how where LINDNER WASHTECH really pays off.
Due to the waste application fields of films and foils, such as green houses, wrapping, mulching, packaging, the contamination degree varies between 20% and 80% depending on the application and may include soil, sand, stones, decomposing products and strong odors.
Processing of agricultural films
The Asociación de Cooperativas Argentinas (ACA) is a prominent agricultural cooperative in Argentina, focused on supporting farmers, providing them resources, services and a collective platform to enhance their productivity but also access to modern agricultural technologies.
ACA addressed the recovering of this LDPE agricultural film, which is turned into pellets and re-used in the production of film.
Using Lindner shredding and washing equipment the 180-250 µm thick film is recycled on the following process:
- With a Lindner Micromat 2000 the plastics are shredded to a size of around 60 mm as required for the rest of the process.
- In the pre-washing stage the flakes are freed from coarse foreign matter and cleaned as well as dried.
- The clean flakes are extruded into pellets, which are yet again used for the production of agricultural film – a nicely closed loop.
