Don't throw money out with the waste

UK manufacturers need to be more efficient in how they recycle metal waste or continue losing millions in potential profits each year, according to the findings of a new report.

One of the companies acting to cut its waste is Honda

The 'What a Waste' report by Nederman focuses on the practices of metal machining manufacturers such as those making components for the automotive or aerospace sectors, or producing consumer goods. The report demonstrates its findings across five typical scenarios, revealing that the average business is losing from £172 to £780 on every tonne of metal waste it recycles, representing many millions in lost profit for UK manufacturing sectors.

Nederman reports that while recycling levels are strong, with companies recognising the value in scrap metal, they are failing to properly appreciate its true potential value.

Nick Dulley from Nederman UK explains: "Companies need to appreciate that recycling in itself is not enough to maximise profitability. By handing over unprocessed metal waste to recycling companies they are potentially handing over a significant amount of their potential profits.

"By improving the efficiency of their recycling processes, they can achieve a much higher price for the metal swarf they produce as well as reclaiming valuable coolants and cutting their transport costs." When Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) turned to Nederman to increase the ROI in its swarf purification system, it needed a partner that could drive huge efficiencies, slash costs and improve revenues. Waste in the automotive manufacturing sector is a major business issue but, due to the increasing value of reclaimed materials, recycling and closed loop waste reclaim systems are big business.

At HUM, no stone is left unturned. A single factory, such as the engine plant in Swindon, generates over 1000t of swarf waste annually, so increasing efficiencies in production recycling is critical to the bottom line.

Waste aluminum has huge financial value, which is increasing all the time, yet there are still many manufacturers that are not running efficient production recycling systems. HUM is aware of the value of this waste and aimed to create systems and processes that ensured every last gram of aluminum was recycled.

Automotive grade aluminum from a machining plant is often impure, covered in grease, oil and coolant. The waste from the machining process is also often bulky swarf that is difficult to clean and costly to transport.

Many manufactures are shipping this raw, unprocessed waste from their sites to reprocessors by the lorry load, at a greater cost. The challenge is how to turn cost into profit, by streamlining the process, increase the value of the material by removing impurities, and reducing travel costs.

A solution Rather than send swarf waste off site for reprocessing, Nederman's solution is to clean all the material onsite, separate the tramp oils and fines from any coolant and purify it by separating the aluminum from ferrous materials. Once this process is complete the material is compacted via a briquetting process, so it is easier to handle and transport by the lorry load.

Nederman says this means that greater volumes of material are reclaimed and manufacturers see a greater return on the value of their materials. Over a short period of time - perhaps 12 to 18 months in some circumstances - the cost of the solution is more than covered in the increased revenue from the reclaimed material.

Other benefits include: reduced downtime through keeping the production process clean, preventing the inefficient removal of swarf from causing a production line to slow or even shut down. For HUM, Nederman provided a system that can purify and recycle swarf to very high standards.

Shredding: HUM was producing 1000t of swarf waste a year, which is one to two lorry loads a day. This waste had 20% moisture content and 5-15% ferrous content. The first step was to shred the swarf into a more uniform chip which was easier to process.

Centrifuging: The chipped swarf is passed by conveyor to a centrifuge for removal of the moisture. This stops it clumping together and adds in the ferrous removal process.

Moisture, which contains coolant and oils from the cutting process, is passed to a separate processing unit.

Magnectic removal of ferrous material: The aluminum is passed over a multi-stage set of magnetic rollers to remove the ferrous particles from the swarf. The larger ferrous debris is removed by a natural earth magnet before being passed over a raw earth magnet to remove all traces of ferrous particles. The waste at this point still has high aluminum content and needs to be processed again. It is passed over a natural earth magnet to reclaim any excess aluminum from the waste, reclaiming over 99% of the aluminum with less than 0.25% ferrous remaining.

Reclaiming coolant: The coolant is also reclaimed and where possible reused or recycled. Water and oil are separated and where possible reused in the manufacturing process or sent for recycling.

Briquetting: Once the aluminum has been reclaimed from the production system, the materials were briquetted to reduce their size before being transported to a reprocessor.

The outcomes were impressive and more than paid for themselves: Average revenues from the swarf sold increased three-fold.

HUM benefits by reducing the amount of lorries needed, revenues from recycling coolant increased, and the cost of the complete system was paid back in less than 24 months.