ENVIE applies FOR REC technology to combine efficiency and sustainability

13 April 2022

A 100% sustainable result: the French company ENVIE relies on FOR REC equipment to recover valuable materials contained in WEEE and creates a “recycling line” focused on employee safety.

ENVIE: the perfect mix between materials recycling and social sustainability

ENVIE deals with managing, reconditioning, disposing and recycling waste and electrical equipment while supporting social causes.

Their Strasbourg plant, in fact, is specifically designed to employ disadvantaged personnel, with slight disabilities or protected professional categories, always supported by professionals and specialized technicians. This collaboration has created an efficient and highly operational social activity, able to create added value and high quality output.

Envie has met the professionalism and skills of FOR REC and, thanks to this collaboration, the two companies created a project that has allowed the French firm to optimize its processes and create a recycling line that is both safe for employees and respectful of the surrounding environment.

Starting point

Regenerating or reconditioning electrical equipment is the key to fighting excessive waste and consumption.
The twofold aim of ENVIE was to: reduce environmental waste by putting reconditioned devices back on the market and recycle non-repairable material.
For this second project, the company was looking for a partner to support them in the creation of a recycling line, and FOR REC demonstrated that it was capable of facing the challenge.

Thanks to custom machinery, FOR REC supported them in the transformation of waste into secondary raw material, with a dedicated line that safeguards the operators and helps them in the process of material selection, always ensuring maximum comfort and safety.

The FOR REC solution

Thanks to its many years of experience and know-how in this sector, FOR REC has supported ENVIE in the realization of the recycling line, composed of a series of machineries that combine efficiency and comfort for the operators.

The first step involves the passage of materials through a large metering hopper, into which various types of electronic equipment are dropped. All waste in the R4 category (small household appliances, consumer electronics, IT equipment, office automation and lighting) are treated by the line in an efficient and accurate way.
A conveyor belt allows the operator to perform an initial manual sorting of items and select those that might contaminate the final output
All the unsorted material goes through an initial treatment with a twin-shaft crusher, a machine purposely designed by FOR REC to automatically open the appliances, avoiding the product to be cut or pressed
Next, there is an even more careful sorting process. For this project, ENVIE has chosen to invest significantly on the quality of the output and on the wellness of its employees. For this reason, an elaborate network of conveyor systems has been designed to allow for a meticulous and precise selection of any polluting materials, such as batteries, condensers or electrical cables. The operators can carry out the selection inside closed sorting cabins, air-conditioned in summer and heated in winter, to ensure maximum comfort.
The products coming out of the various selection areas are then sent to a four-shaft shredder that brings the material to a size that allows automatic selection with an eddy current system for the separation of plastic and non-ferrous metals, which will then be subjected to a system of magnets to identify the ferrous components.

The advantages of FOR REC's solution

Thanks to the machinery implemented by FOR REC, the company has been able to focus on output quality, achieving an extremely high degree of cleanliness. All outgoing products are indeed free of impurities and 98% free of contamination.

Through this project, ENVIE has been able to optimize its efforts and is able to re-introduce more valuable components to the market.