The Piber innovation With considerable far-sightedness, since 1993 Piberplast proposed and created and integrated service for the production and delivery of disposable meal sets, with customised design, and including after-meal collection, recycling of collected material and re-use of the same for the production of other articles. The integrated management of all these stages exhibits Piber's know-how in this sector.
The innovative aspect is evinced in having organised a well-balanced line of products (disposable crockery items wholly in a single-material), service (delivery and collection logistics, plus assistance for implementing the catering service) and technologies (production, recycling and re-use). As regards LCA, the lower environmental impact needs to be assessed in terms of shipment costs and landfill space for a product which, if not correctly managed, is very volume-hungry.
Piberecycling at work
Piberecycling's services to a collective catering structure would include weekly distribution of crockery to the cooking centres and sorting of meals. Personnel clearing the crockery are adequately trained on the collection and packing methods, specifically studied to facilitate collection, transport and recycling operations. The training of catering personnel is essential for obtaining from them the kind of responsible co-operation which is essential for the success of the system. Moreover, users too must be trained and made aware of the aims of the service. Active participation by users is also central to the success of the project.
The crockery is accurately enclosed in strong polypropylene bags, and is sent to a collection centre. Here it enters the recycling plant, which consists of a crockery grinding station, followed by washing, where organic residue is separated from the recovered plastic. Lastly, the material passes through a drying station. After this treatment, the material is suitable for re-use in a variety of applications.
The recycled polypropylene is transformed by injection and extrusion moulding into different articles for use in various sectors: agriculture (film for agriculture and flower vases), automotive (secondary technical parts), street furnishing, building industry, and consumer goods (disposable razors).
The washing water is sent to a modern purification plant before being returned to the public sewage system. In global terms, the Piberecycling service minimises the use of water and prevents detergents and organic residue produced by dish washing systems in individual caterings from being discharged into the normal sewage system, without adding to the solid urban waste disposal-targeted flow.
