(Nomination for 2011 AUREA Award): Pethouse - Mobile machine for grinding used plastic PET bottles

The company Pethouse has invented an innovative mobile machine used for grinding plastic bottles, which reduces the volume of used PET packaging to only 10% (compacting reduces the volume by 30%). Pethouse is a small mobile machine that is easy to use and it actually represents the first link in the recycling chain because it is utilized by the waste generator, that is, consumers. The innovation is in its final phase and the prototype of this machine already exists, while about EUR 40,000 are required for the commencement of assembly-line production and development of the business.

In addition to this machine, the company has also designed an innovative business concept of the new model of PET packaging waste collecting. According to that model, the collecting starts at the place where PET waste is created, that is, at people’s homes and all those places where plastic bottles are used. Users of the new model of waste collecting, primarily citizens, are the first link in the recycling chain and they deliver raw materials to waste collectors. In the first period, the company plans to offer this machine for free to the biggest users of PET packaging and to ask them to give the company plastic raw material in return, which is the most expensive item in the plastic raw materials market when processed in this way. Potential users of this machine are households, all catering facilities, public service organizations, etc.

The primary effects of Pethouse machine are: cost-efficient management of PET packaging waste (profit making, energy saving, easier collecting, transport and stocking) and care of people’s health. At landfills in Serbia, this type of waste currently occupies 30% of the volume occupied by all waste. There are about 2,000,000 plastic bottles at landfills in our country, each of which weighs 50 g.

Pethouse machine is patented under Serbian patent number MP-2010 / 0036 (1184 ). The business concept based on the innovation is protected by depositing the copyright work and the subject of related rights as a model of PET waste packaging collecting based on a mobile machine used for reducing the volume of used PET packaging under the identification number A-314/2010 (4761) of the Patent Institute of the Republic of Serbia.

INNOVATION

The innovative machine Pethouse is the first mobile machine used for grinding plastic PET packaging intended for use at home. The innovation is in its final phase of development, while the steps that follow involve the work on certain details, which should improve the machine and make it ready for the market, which can be done in a very short time (one month) if a small financial support is provided. The machine now has two electric drives, while the plan is that it has only one electric drive upon the future technological improvement, which will make the assembly-line production even cheaper.

The basic advantage of the machine lies in the reduction of the volume of used PET packaging to 10% (at the source of PET waste creation) instead of 30% (which is currently the case).

Pethouse’s dimensions: width - 330 mm, height - 750 mm, thickness - 190 mm, weight - 23 kg

The housing of the prototype is made of tin, while the final solution will be made of hard plastic, which will make the whole machine even lighter. The machine is easy to carry and can be stored in horizontal or vertical position, depending on the place where it is kept.

The material used in making of the prototype is made in Serbia, while the motor is made in Germany, but a motor made by, for example, EI Nis can also be used.

The motor’s specifications:

-Voltage: 230V-50 hz
-RPM: 6000-11500
-Weight: 3.8 kg
-Power: 600W
-Software: made by Motorola

Description of the processing process:

- Ripping off, that is, removing the label from a bottle

- Placing a plastic bottle in the opening and fastening the bottle by means of a mechanism used for tightening the neck of plastic bottles.

- When the marked button is pressed, the software starts the motor equipped with a special tool and grinding starts. Being pushed down to the machine’s stand, plastic bottle is ground all the way to the screw for the cap. When the motor with the tool reaches the bottom limiter equipped with a sensor, the software stops lowering the motor with the tool, while the sensor sends the motor with the tool up, toward the upper limiter equipped with a sensor, which stops the motor with the tool and automatically turns off the machine. The process of processing lasts for 40 seconds and this motor creates the same noise as the motor of a regular vacuum cleaner. In case the machine user opens the door while the machine is working, a microswitch automatically turns the motor off, while the software sends the motor with the tool up, that is, to the starting point.

The machine can be improved to process three bottles at the same time.

Shredded bottles are placed in a special plastic bag that can hold between 7 and 10 kg (about 200 bottles), which equals the monthly consumption in Serbia. Ground plastic raw material is taken by collectors.

Once the assembly-line production starts, between 5 and 10 thousand machines will be made every month. The most expensive item in the investment is the design of a production machine, that is, a mould that costs about EUR 8,000. The mould would be used to make the housing, while all other parts are installed later. It would take four workers to assemble one machine.

Innovative business concept

The concept of the new model of PET packaging waste collecting starts at the place where PET waste is created, that is, at people’s homes and all those places where plastic bottles are used. Users of the new collecting model of Pethouse machine will have the opportunity to sell plastic raw materials they produce at their homes, while ”collector” companies will be collecting these raw materials to sell them. Potential users are households, catering facilities, public service organizations, etc.

SOCIAL UTILITY

By applying the innovative model of used PET packaging waste collecting, Serbia would increase the percentage of recycled PET packaging from 14 to 75% on annual basis and, thus, become equal to the EU members.

The state would have a maximally educated and motivated population who would be constantly contributing to the improvement of recycling while making a profit, and all together would be working on the creation of a cleaner and ecologically healthier environment.

Serbia would handle packaging waste in a more organized manner and it would reduce losses it now registers with the current management of PET packaging waste, while the new concept would also create new jobs for socially endangered population who would be hired to collect waste.

Packaging waste in Serbia

Imagine a football field and a building about 120 meters high on it. That is the volume occupied by PET packaging used in Serbia during one year. Plastic is an artificial material that cannot be found in the nature. Its basic ingredients are petroleum and earth gas, along with some other products. Serbia does not produce PET packaging. Instead, it imports over 50,000 tonnes of PET packaging a year, about 14% of which is currently recycled, while the use of Pethouse machine would enable recycling of 75% of that packaging.

Reduction of the volume of used PET packaging to 10% also simplifies the whole later PET recycling process, all the way to the production of a new plastic product.

PET waste collecting with the use of Pethouse machine produces the minimum level of contamination of plastic materials (almost none).

Problems of PET packaging waste collecting

The current problem of the population (waste generator) is the lack of a method for sorting (selecting) and separating used PET packaging at the place where PET waste is created. The other problem is that that packaging occupies a significant space in households (just like in any other space around people), at landfills, as well as a useful parking space. An additional problem in Serbia is that there is no organized collecting of PET packaging waste and enough plants that could process a large quantity of such waste.

The share of PET packaging waste in the volume of communal waste of Serbia is 20-30%, which is a big burden for landfills.

We should also not forget that the world’s population growth and setting up of various new drink manufacturers lead to an increase in the amount of PET packaging that gets bigger on a daily basis. By using Pethouse machine, population will not generate the same amount of PET plastic packaging waste as now. In that way, people will save the useful space around their homes and directly contribute to the environment preservation.

The current way of collecting PET waste is especially infavorable for plastic packaging waste in the time and space between containers and landfills because that is when it is under the constant influence of natural effects and it is proved that the structure of PET polymers degrades and pollutes liquid in the bottles and, thus, causes contamination of plastic material. That is why it is very important that PET waste be separated from communal waste. With the use Pethouse machine, the current way of collecting PET packaging waste is changed and purely differentiated waste collecting is introduced, thus benefiting all participants in the new recycling process.

The estimates are that the total annual damage in Serbia caused by illegal waste management ranges between 98 and 276 million euros, which equals 0.4%-1.1% of GNP (third of which is PET packaging).

European practice

The European Directive concerning plastic packaging and plastic packaging waste (94/62/EC) stipulates that member countries must establish a system of plastic packaging waste collecting aimed at the recycling of that waste. However, each country is free to choose the method for collecting plastic packaging waste that suits the national policy, strategy and conditions. The Directive must be obeyed because Serbia wants to be admitted to the EU. In order to be equal to surrounding countries, we must achieve their set values prior to 2015:

- Total return: 60-75% (recycling and energy return)
- Total recycling: 55-70%

With the use of Pethouse machine, 75% of PET packaging waste can be recycled on annual basis.

FINANCIAL POTENTIAL

In the first period, the company plans to offer this machine for free to the biggest users of PET packaging and ask them to give the company plastic raw material in return, which is the most expensive item in the plastic raw materials market when processed in this way. PET packaging collected in this way is ten times more expensive than the one being collected now because it is selected, sorted, ground and dry. One ton of waste (25,000 bottles) is paid EUR 100, while its price goes up to EUR 800-1000 with the use of the Pethouse collecting model. Another variant, for which a busines plan is made, is that the company only makes profit from the machine sales.

Price of PET packaging per ton is:

New PET: EUR 1,100-1,200
Baled PET: EUR 200
Recycled (selected, sorted, dry, ground) PET: EUR 800-1,000

If the demand for these machines suddenly grows higher and a big buyer places an order for a large number of machines, the company Pethouse plans to enter into a strategic partnership.

Investment needed to start the business amounts to 40,000,000 (funds from the company’s own sources: 1,000,000, funds from a loan: 39,000,000). The price of the machine is estimated at RSD 7,000.

Market goals

The market goal of Pethouse company is to cover the whole territory of Serbia (households) and the whole catering sector (restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, etc.) over the next 5 years, as well as enterprises and public service organizations.

The plan for the first business year is that the total of 285,800 machines be sold, which is only 10% of the future expected demand in the market of Serbia, with the tendency of rapid growth during hot days (due to larger number of used PET bottles).

Relation with the machine buyers

Households are the largest waste generator in the used PET packaging market and, as such, they have the biggest need for using the machine. That is why they are the Buyer 1. At the moment, there is no similar competitive product in the market.

- Buyer 1 (households)

- Buyer 2 (enterprises/catering sector)

- Buyer 3 (public service organizations)

Buyer 1 gets:

* easier everyday life,

* easier delivery (PET card as a proof of PET recycling)

* possibility of making profit (purchase of PET plastic raw material)

* less money spent on bags for communal waste

* useful space (which would otherwise be occupied by used PET bottles)

* various benefits that the state could provide to the machine users (population), with the aim of preserving the environment and enabling healthier recycling of PET packaging and its quicker reuse and, thus, meeting the EU standards

Buyer 2 gets:

* useful space otherwise occupied by waste

* proof of the safe recycling of PET packaging, which a recent law demands them to present

* possibility of making profit

* easier work for the staff

* less money spent on bags for communal waste

Buyer 3 gets:

* easier work for the staff (cleaning ladies) in government institutions and cabinets, public health centers, hospitals, medical practices, etc.

Concessions for the machine users

According to the existing Draft Law on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management, the state would benefit the most through an optimal waste collecting programme and financial incentives for the population and it would get a cleaner and healthier PET packaging recycling system, but it would have to provide concessions such as:

- 10% smaller public utility bills for the machine users
- introduction of identification cards for the machine users, which would serve as a substitute for the currently required proof that used PET packaging is recycled

About Pethouse team

Three members of the team worked on this innovation. The author of the preliminary idea for this innovation worked for a long time as a technician for recycling ribbons, cartridges and toners for all types of printers in the market.

Setting up of a company with limited liability is underway. The precondition for us to set up this form of company is to find partners who are ready to support our project and invest in it.

If Pethouse is your favorite for the innovative investment of the year, you can cast a vote for this nominee on the official website Aurea 2011.

Pethouse Beograd

eKapija.com Beograd

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