Recycling: An absolute necessity
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In Nexans, for many years, cable recycling has been considered as an actual business per se and not only as a constraint imposed by law makers. Consistently, further to the technology-based efforts spent by Nexans on raw materials separation (plastics, co
As an environmental issue, recycling is not only a constraint but it should be considered as a strategic investment for tomorrow profits. In the near future, cablemakers will not only be responsible for their scraps production (named preconsumer waste) but also for their products at the end of their lifes.
Cable scraps are not ultimate waste (i.e. waste that cannot be recovered at reasonable cost) so they must be recycled.
The recycling market is born under the pressure of law and regulation but companies could find, there, an economic interest.
Cables and recycling
Historically, cable factories have always tried to recover the metallic parts of their scraps which represent an economic issue.
The former Cable Group (now Nexans) decided some years ago to buy a specialized company named RIPS (Recyclage Industriel de Produits Sidérurgiques) to deal with it.
RIPS collects, sorts and separates scraps coming from various Nexans units (mainly in France), only 5% of its activity are coming from outside Nexans (mainly installers).
Generally speaking a cable is made of:
conductor (aluminium or copper
insulation (polyethylene, PVC, impregnated paper,…)
filler
separator (various papers or textiles
screen (copper)
armor (steel)
sheath (rubber,PVC,…)
The goal of the recycling process is to separate the various elements leading to re-usable products.
Recycling process
After the collection, the sorting operation is of primary importance. As a matter of fact, the better the sorting is the better the end products are.
A scraping line consists of the main following steps:
cables are cut into small pieces
grinding into scraps
separation into metal and plastic granulates
The metal granulates are sent to foundries but plastics fractions, which are low-grade material, can be used only for a limited range of products (e.g. traffic cones, industrial floorings). In order to enhance the value of the plastic granulates, it is necessary to separate the various components of the mixed plastic waste.
Plastics separation
Only few companies are able to recycle the mixed plastic granulates. Several processes are proposed:
incineration: Waste incineration is the combustion of waste at high temperatures. It includes a variety of combustion systems developed from boiler plant technology and also more novel techniques such as molten salt and fluidised bed incinerators
thermolysis: thermal decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence of gases such as air or oxygen. The process, which requires heat, produces a mixture of combustible gases (primarily methane, complex hydrocarbons, hydrogen and carbon monoxide), liquids and solid residues
Watech: only for PVC
Vinyloop: low cost, well adapted to PVC-rich compounds (see figure below).
Nexans (NRC Lyon) is developing, with the support of a French agency (ADEME), new processes for materials separation (based on electric properties, see figure below), materials compatibilisation and cross-linked materials processing.
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