The Loacker Group, based in Götzis, Vorarlberg (Austria), has been dedicated to collecting, sorting and processing valuable materials for over 100 years and is motivated by one thought: The best for the world of tomorrow. Family-owned for five generations, the group consists of a total of 25 companies and operates 47 sites in eight countries. The recycling plant in Wonfurt has been recovering end-of-life cables for decades. These mostly come from the DACH region and are largely collected within the Loacker Group and delivered to Wonfurt for processing. The focus is on extracting pure materials to maximise the recyclables recovery.
Matthias Köhler has been Managing Director at the Wonfurt site since 2012. In recent years, a great deal of energy and expertise has been invested in expanding the recycling plant to achieve the best possible recycling results using the latest technology. In a three-shift operation, up to 100 tonnes of end-of-life cables are transformed into valuable recyclable materials every day. ‘We mainly recover copper from old cables, around 40 to 45 tonnes a day, but also PVC and ferrous metals. While the copper is turned into copper sheets in copper smelters, we deliver the PVC to a company located on site. There, the plastics are turned into barrier products. Ferrous metals are sent for metal processing. The way our plant is equipped, we achieve a particularly high degree of purity. That’s what makes us unique and gives us the ability to return almost 100% of the recycled material back into the cycle,’ explains Matthias Köhler.
The Lindner Polaris 2800 with rotor cooling has been part of the plant at Loacker in Wonfurt since July 2023 and shreds copper cables to a final output size of <15 mm. ‘We are more than happy with the throughput rate and are particularly pleased that the shredder handles non-shreddables with ease, which do show up from time to time,’ says Köhler happily. In buying a Polaris, a conscious decision was also made in favour of the screwable and quadruple-use blade cutting system. ‘We change the knives every seven to eight days, which is extremely easy thanks to the screwable system. It is also easy to access the rotor, knives and knife holders,’ says Matthias Köhler. ‘Furthermore, the Polaris 2800 has the necessary drive power. Equipped with a countershaft drive and flywheel energy storage, the machine makes light work of shredding even difficult materials such as end-of-life cables with a high content of copper wire. The consistent throughput rate and high uptimes speak for themselves,’ states Jan Rosenmeyer, Sales Manager at Lindner.
‘We are extremely happy with the Polaris and would choose a Lindner shredder again. Output, rotor cooling and ease of maintenance convinced us. Using a Lindner, you also realise that the company has decades of experience in shredding technology. The overall package is just right,’ adds Köhler.
