Choose the required recycled output before comparing machine names. Shredding and granulation are mechanical size-reduction steps; melt pelletizing is a different processing stage. A proposal for flakes is therefore not equivalent to a proposal for pellets. Nor does a smaller particle prove that the material is clean or suitable for its intended reuse.
ASG’s catalogue illustrates these distinctions with a single-shaft shredder, a knife-and-screen granulator and a PP/HDPE flake pelletizing system. Use the following questions to define your project; these examples do not mean every line needs all three machines.
Bulky feedstock: assess feeding before fine cutting
ASG describes its single-shaft shredder for difficult-to-cut items including plastic blocks, sheets, drums and pipes. For an actual quotation, send dimensions, wall thickness, photographs and representative samples. Ask how the material will be fed, what discharge is proposed and whether another cutting stage is required. A polymer name alone does not describe a bulky item’s feeding behaviour.
Source: ASG single-shaft shredder description
Flakes or regrind: define the granulator’s handover
ASG’s standard granulator uses rotating and stationary knives with a screen and lists PET bottle washing among its applications. Ask for the proposed input condition, output size distribution and the receiving equipment’s requirements. Agree how fines, oversized pieces and blade or screen changes will be assessed with your samples. Do not treat a screen opening as a guarantee of one uniform particle size.
Source: ASG standard plastic granulator description
Pellets: specify a material-specific melt process
ASG’s PP/HDPE rigid-flake pelletizing description includes plasticizing, degassing and melt filtration before pellet formation. This is more than cutting washed flakes. Define polymer identity, moisture and contamination, and give the next processor’s pellet requirements. Request a separate assessment for PET or another polymer; the PP/HDPE listing is not evidence of a suitable PET process.
Source: ASG PP/HDPE rigid-flake pelletizing description
Keep washing and drying in the quotation boundary
ASG separately lists hot washing for difficult contamination and centrifugal dewatering followed by further drying. Ask which contaminants the proposed process targets and how moisture and residual contamination will be checked at handover. Cutting, washing, dewatering and melt filtration have different jobs. A washing-line quotation alone does not establish food-contact approval or a bottle-to-bottle application.
Source: ASG hot washer description
Source: ASG centrifugal dewatering description
Ask for a sample-based acceptance plan
Compare quotations at the same input and output boundary. Request a trial or assessment protocol using representative feedstock, stating the material condition, included equipment and measurement method. Ask how throughput, reject material, output quality and utility requirements will be documented under agreed conditions. A clean factory sample may not represent a variable post-consumer stream.
Send these details with your enquiry
- Feedstock: polymer identification, material form, dimensions, contamination, photographs and representative samples.
- Required output: flakes, regrind or pellets; downstream use and the receiving processor’s acceptance criteria.
- Project boundary: existing equipment, planned interfaces, factory layout and available utilities.
- Proposal scope: cutting, washing, drying, melt processing and material handling, identifying included and excluded stages.
- Verification: sample assessment, agreed operating conditions, quality checks, documentation and maintenance requirements.
Send ASG the material and required output together. Ask for an itemized process proposal with clear interfaces and acceptance criteria, rather than choosing a machine from its name alone. The equipment and solution pages below help you identify what needs assessment.