Geocycle takes delivery of first waste shredder in Ecuador

The XR3000C mobil-e has made the 6,500 mile journey from Austria to Guayaquil, Ecuador by road and sea-freight, and now fully commissioned, it can shred varied waste streams.

Able to handle plastic, paper and wood from industrial waste producers – with biomass and MSW projects also on the horizon – the goal of Geocycle’s new shredding line is to maximise recycling and energy recovery rates. This is part of the brand’s global co-processing initiative to utilise existing cement facilities to resolve local waste challenges sustainably.

With the upstream infrastructure still under development, exact capacity capabilities are yet to be confirmed. However, trials have indicated that the high-throughput XR can achieve the volumes required by the manufacturer.

Commenting on the investment, Geocycle’s Ecuador director Mr. Pepenel said: “Globally, our business is striving to create a zero waste future, and we see pre- and co-processing facilities as a crucial part in this strategy.

“With UNTHA’s help, we’re helping Ecuadorian businesses transform waste into ‘ready for co-processing’ materials. We’ve invested in flexible, high capacity, single step shredding equipment, supported with world-class engineering support, so we are extremely excited about this plant becoming fully operational.”

Hoping to return in the circular economy thousand tons of waste yearly, Mr. Pepenel concluded: “A renewable mindset is fast emerging in this country so we hope this waste processing facility will prove the catalyst to further progress.”

This is not UNTHA’s first shredding project with Geocycle – machines have also been supplied to plants in Bulgaria, Vietnam, Spain, Mexico and Argentina, to name just a few. More than 9,000 UNTHA shredders are now in operation worldwide.