In a couple of weeks Orwak introduces the PET/can industrial crusher Orwak 5040 in the standard assortment. Orwak 5040 is the only compact sized vertical baler in the market that can compact PET bottles with the cap on! The introduction is based on a Californian success story.

Last year Orwak developed a new baler specifically constructed for PET bottles and aluminum cans. Orwak - belonging to the Tomra group - got a large special order from Tomra for a challenging recycling project in California. One of the requirements was to design a small machine that takes up minimum floor space. The result was a compact twin chamber baler called Orwak 5040. This baler makes a stackable bale of aluminum cans and no tying is necessary to keep the bales together, but they will easily break apart if required at a processing center. One bale of 35 cl cans contains approximately 650 cans and the compaction ratio when crushing these cans is 6:1.

PET bottles are tough to compact with a lasting result, as they contain a lot of air and have a tendency to “bounce back” after compaction. The process of compacting PET bottles is divided into two phases. In the first phase needles come out of the professional press plate, the press plate goes down and perforates the bottles. When the press plate goes down the second time the needles have been pulled in and the PET bottles are compacted with full force. Due to this two-step-process Orwak 5040 is able to crush PET bottles with the caps on, which is a unique feature for such a small vertical baler! The compaction ratio when compacting PET bottles is up to 10:1 and one bale of PET contains 350-500 bottles depending on the size of the bottles.