The 37-tonne mobile machine made the 1000km journey from Untha’s innovation centre in Salzburg, Austria, to Śmigiel, back in the summer, when it was used for a series of live shredding trials. And the family-run Polcopper (S4F) team was so impressed with the technology’s capabilities, that they immediately purchased the demonstration unit.
During this test period, they put the XR3000C mobil-e through its paces, shredding copper cables at a rate of 21 tonnes per hour, and achieving throughput rates of 25 tonnes per hour when handling auto interiors. But the machine’s ability to process the notoriously difficult tyre waste stream also caught their attention.
Polcopper (S4F) shredded large volumes of car and truck tyres, per hour, with a 90mm screen. And having now invested in the machine on a permanent basis, the business hopes to continually transform end-of-life tyres for recycling or energy recovery.
With rapidly evolving demand from its global trade partners, Polcopper (S4F) also has the ability to handle a range of wider commercial and industrial waste streams, including high value scrap metal applications.
Commenting on the investment, Untha Polska’s business development manager Taner Topcu said: “There are currently more than 200 XR waste shredders in operation globally, and many customers opt for the mobile version due to the added flexibility – and movability – it offers. But Polcopper (S4F) has proven its reputation as an industry ground-breaker, by being the first company in Poland to invest in this world-renowned machine.
“We know that ‘seeing is believing’ and this trial evidenced this. Polcopper (S4F) colleagues were able to experience our slow-speed, high performance single shaft shredder in action, and they could see how easy it was to switch applications and achieve different output sizes according to customer specifications. They could hear that it ran with low noise too, which is particularly important as operators strive to better protect employee health and safety. And they could speak to our own engineers about the purposefully-designed low maintenance and energy efficiency of the machine.”
Following the summer trial, the XR returned to Untha’s Austrian HQ to be fully refurbished and returned to the customer for commissioning. But supplied on tracks with an in-built discharge conveyor, overband magnet and two 132kW motors, this electric-driven shredder was operational following little more than a ‘plug and play’ set-up.
“Everything about the XR is designed with the customer in mind,” continued Taner. “High throughputs, low wear, maximum operational flexibility and low whole life running costs, lead to maximum ease of use, environmental progress and – ultimately – greater profitability. Many of our machines pay for themselves in as little as 18 months.”
Untha’s head of global sales, Peter Streinik, added: “2020 has shown us just how hard the waste and recycling industry works, worldwide, so everything we do is designed to improve our customers’ operations, so that they can concentrate on running their business – safe in the knowledge they will avoid costly downtime, while achieving an on-specification shred, every time, with minimal fuss.”
Mr Piotr Rusiecki, the owner of Polcopper (S4F) elaborated: “I decided to buy the Untha XR as this machine is one of the few on the market which is mobile and universally capable of processing a range of materials – usually in one pass operation without pre-treatment.”
The XR waste shredder – currently available with four key cutting concepts and hundreds of individual cutting configurations – was launched to the market in 2015, to help customers turn more ‘wastes’ into valuable resources.
This diversion of waste from landfill strategy has seen the team help convert municipal solid wastes (MSW), plus commercial and industrial (C&I) wastes into alternative fuels for the global Energy from Waste market.
But ongoing engineering advancements at Untha’s innovation centre means the XR has gone on to achieve far more. For example, its metal separation capabilities and the sophisticated liberation of ferrous materials that would often otherwise remain ‘locked’ within wastes such as tyres and WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment), have seen the XR excel in the scrap industry too. It can also effectively shred waste wood for biomass, green waste, hazardous waste, mattresses, textiles, carpets, production waste, pulper ropes, MRF residue and more.
