RECYCLING AND REFUSE MATERIAL CROSS WRAPPING

“Within FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente we have been using Cross Wrap machinery for more than 20 years. Cross Wrap has demonstrated to be a reliable machine and has been improving year after year”, firm´s technical director Javier Cerezo Ortega explains why the company chose Cross Wrap.

RECYCLING AND REFUSE MATERIAL CROSS WRAPPING

FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente is a global environmental and circular economy giant which operates in many countries such as Spain, UK, and the USA. The company, which is part of the FCC Group, has a long history with Cross Wrap. The firm´s UK affiliate, FCC Environment, has been a Cross Wrap bale wrapping machine customer for many years, but just recently also the Spanish FCC Medio Ambiente (aka. FCC MA) has become one of our customers.

FCC MA needed to invest in bale wrapping machinery due to their new waste management infrastructure developments in Spain that help the company to keep offering effective recycling services for local communities. One reason why a bale wrapping solution was needed came from new Valencian regulations that require wrapped refuse material bales to be transported and dry landfilled. The company acquired all together 4 Cross Wrap bale wrapping machines for three sites, of which two have one and one of the sites have two CW 2200 Bale Wrappers.

– Within FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente we have been using Cross Wrap machinery for more than 20 years. Cross Wrap has demonstrated to be a reliable machine and has been improving year after year, firm´s technical director Javier Cerezo Ortega explains why the company chose Cross Wrap.

NEW IMPROVEMENTS AND NEW OPERATING MODELS

FCC MA wanted to find a solution to back up safe, clean, and cost-effective way to wrap refuse material bales, that are coming from their modern waste recycling lines. Their operation in refuse material handling was enhanced with Cross Wrap bale wrappers at El Campello, Gomecello, and Loeches Environmental Compounds. These investments comply also with the newly set waste handling regulations and make community waste handled and stored as effectively and cleanly as possible.

When describing the reason behind FCC MA´s Cross Wrap bale wrapper acquisition, Mr. Cerezo Ortega says that it was to improve the operation of their landfills and that it is more and more common that they wrapped the bales produced with the refuse from their MBT (Mechanical Biological Treatment) plants. This has become more and more standard in FCC plants. Also, one known issue of landfilling waste is the presence of airborne material like plastics, papers, or textiles, which can be minimized with wrapping.

– The Gomecello and El Campello sites had the Cross Wrap machines retrofitted to existing facilities, but the Loeches Environmental recycling compound is a brand-new recycling site using the most advanced technologies to treat waste from 31 municipalities in the East of Madrid Region, Cross Wrap sales manager Mr. Ville-Pekka Parkkinen says.

The Loeches site has been designed with five different treatment lines for residual waste, waste packaging, commercial waste, bulky waste, and vegetable waste. The site has a total treatment capacity of 254,000 mt/annum and it has cutting-edge automated machinery.

MULTIPLE WRAPPING MACHINES FROM CROSS WRAP

“Within FCC MA we have known Mr. Kalle Kivelä for many years, and now with Mr. Ville-Pekka Parkkinen, the cooperation among Cross Wrapp and FCC Group continues to be in good health. FCC MA has recently acquired four more wrappers for our facilities in Spain”, Mr. Cerezo Ortega tells.

FCC MA chose to run CW 2200 Bale Wrappers as they are an efficient combination used with channel balers. The square refuse waste bales produced are 1100 x 1100 mm in size with variable lengths and the CW Bale Wrappers were equipped also with 5 to 10-meter offloading conveyors depending on each site’s specifications.

“The Cross Wrap technology-based in limiting the movement of the bale and moving the plastics rolls around the bales is the best option.”, Mr. Cerezo Ortega explains the technical reasons why FCC MA prefers the bale wrapping done with Cross Wrap.

Cross Wrap Bale Wrappers were set up together with FCC to match each refuse baling line’s capacities that varied from 20 to 30 bales per hour. The machine startups and training were done together with a Cross Wrap service partner who could serve FCC site personnel with the Spanish language.

“The Cross Wrap network has grown more and more important and has been especially valuable now during the Covid-19 pandemic. Good co-operation and sharing of know-how help us, our partners, and our customers to achieve operation models that are needed and offer flexibility and competitiveness”, Mr. Parkkinen sums.

Today all the acquired Cross Wrap Bale Wrappers are installed and running and they serve the purpose of wrapping refuse bales effectively. Cross Wrap provides normal service and spare part activities directly to FCC MA. In Spain, there are now over 30 Cross Wrap bale wrappers installed to customers for wrapping various material bales.

SAFE AND EFFICIENT DRY LANDFILLING WITH CROSS WRAP

FCC MA´s refuse material is destined to dry landfills which have gained growing popularity as a waste disposal and landfilling method around the world. Dry landfilling offers an environmentally safe way of waste and refuse material disposal.

“The Spanish waste sector is growing. A national landfill tax has been recently approved and this will help to push our sector to increase the material and energy recovery from waste”, Mr. Cerezo Ortega describes.

By cross wrapping and dry landfilling the refuse material bales the problems such as leachate, littering, pests, odors, or fire hazards are minimized. Also, when disposing of material in wrapped and baled form the landfill density is much higher than with loose traditional landfilling and there is no need for additional and expensive material compacting.

“Most of the Spanish population lives near the coast where the waste production has a season-ability variation due to tourism. We have plants that can double the waste received during the summer. The wrapping of waste as a technique to store waste has a bright future in Spain – and yes – FCC will certainly include more wrapping installations in most of our new plants.”, Mr. Cerezo Ortega tells.

– Bale wrapping enables waste management companies like FCC MA to handle, transport and landfill refuse materials efficiently and in a clean manner with a possibility to also reuse dry landfilled materials in the future, Mr. Parkkinen explains.

– This FCC MA´s bale wrapping case is a perfect example of efficient waste management and recycling operation, which offers many benefits, but has also environmentally important positive outcomes. As a machinery and technology provider, we at Cross Wrap are excited to be part of FCC MA´s projects now and in the future, Mr. Parkkinen concludes.

For more information about Cross Wrap bale wrapping solutions contact sales@crosswrap.com.

IN A NUTSHELL:

• Company: FCC Medio Ambiente, part of FCC Group
• Location: Spain, Gomecello, Loeches and El Campello
• Material: recycled waste refuse
• Line capacities: 20 to 30 bales/hour
• Bale size: 1,100 m x 1,100 mm x length varies, weight 1.5 tons
• CW Machines: 4 x CW 2200 Bale Wrapper