Plastic Waste Recycling Plant | Small-Scale Equipment Solutions

Operational Process of a Small-Scale Plastic Recycling Plant

A small-scale plastic recycling plant typically handles relatively clean rigid plastic waste, such as off-cuts or purgings generated in manufacturing (transition material, purge material from extrusion or injection molding, etc.). Because this waste is single-composition and high-value, it can be reused after simple size reduction.

A standard small-scale recycling line is arranged in series as “belt conveyor → shredder → magnetic separator → crusher → air blower with silo.” The fully automated process continuously turns bulky plastic waste into uniform recycled flakes (also called regrind or chips) that downstream plants can use directly or pelletize further.

Illustration: schematic layout of a typical small-scale plastic recycling line. From left to right are the feed conveyor, primary shredder, magnetic separator (red magnetic roller above the belt), secondary crusher, and at the far right the air blower and storage silo.

Basic workflow:

The above process suits the recycling of relatively clean rigid plastic waste (such as purgings and off-cuts). It is purely mechanical, involving no chemical reactions, so the method is simple and environmentally friendly. If the feedstock contains significant dirt, sand, or oil contamination (e.g., agricultural film or household plastic waste), washing and drying steps must be added after shredding, or a more complex wet-process recycling line adopted—situations outside the scope of this discussion.

Feeding & conveying

The plastic waste is first loaded onto an inclined belt conveyor, which carries the material at a constant speed to the shredder inlet.

Primary shredding

Via the conveyor, the waste enters a single- or twin-shaft shredder, where the blades coarsely reduce it to roughly 20–80 mm chunks.

Magnetic separation

The shredded material drops onto the downstream discharge conveyor; a suspended magnetic roller above the belt attracts and removes ferrous contaminants such as nails and screws during transport.

Secondary size-reduction

After magnetic separation, the plastic chunks are conveyed into a high-speed granulator, where rapidly rotating knives further grind them into uniform chips smaller than 10–20 mm.

Air conveying & collection

The ground flakes are pneumatically conveyed through piping by a blower into a finished-product silo (or collection bag).

Typical Capacity Range of Small-Scale Plastic Recycling Plants

The processing volume of a small plastic-waste recycling facility depends on the chosen combination of equipment specs and its level of automation. In general, these plants fall in the mid-size category, with a typical capacity of about 300–600 kg per hour—equivalent to several tons of waste plastic per day under a standard configuration.

Equipment List and Selection Logic for a Startup-Scale Recycling Plant

Feeding conveyor

A belt conveyor carries loose plastic scrap steadily to the shredder inlet. When choosing a belt, match its width and length to the part size and floor layout. Its purpose is to provide uniform feeding and avoid the discontinuity and safety risks of manual dumping.

Coarse-size reduction

The plastic shredder cuts large pieces into 20–80 mm fragments in a single pass. A single-shaft model with a hydraulic pusher is most common: the ram presses material against the rotating cutter drum for shearing. Key selection factors are drum width and motor power. For purgings or thick-wall pipes, choose a shredder with high torque and a wide charging throat so whole pieces can be fed without pre-cutting.

Metal separation

A suspended permanent-magnet separator (or magnetic pulley) is installed above the post-shred discharge belt to automatically remove ferrous contaminants such as nails, screws, or blades. Height must align with the belt, and magnetic strength must lift metal buried in the flakes. The logic: protecting the downstream granulator’s knives and bearings from impact damage—an essential safety investment for small lines. If feedstock is proven metal-free, the magnet can be omitted, but most plants install it for peace of mind.

Fine-size reduction

The granulator / high-speed crusher grinds the pre-shredded pieces to ~10 mm chips. It uses a fast-rotating rotor with bed knives to shear material across a screen. Check feed-throat size, rotor diameter, motor power, and screen hole size: the right second-stage granulator ensures uniform chip size and higher recycled-flake quality.

Conveying & collection

A pneumatic system of blower, ducting, and silo conveys the chips quickly into a collection bin. Small silos hold a few dozen to a few hundred kilograms. Air conveying eliminates repeated manual stops to empty material, boosting production continuity.

Finished product

Estimated Total Investment and Required Site Area

How much investment and space are needed to build a small plastic‐recycling plant? This is usually entrepreneurs’ biggest concern. Total cost covers equipment purchase, site rental/construction, installation and commissioning, labor, and utilities, and it varies widely by country and region.

Equipment purchase cost: For a 500 kg / h line, core equipment (shredder, granulator, conveyors, magnetic separator, blower, etc.) typically costs about US $30,000–50,000.

Site and infrastructure: A small plant generally needs several hundred square meters for production and storage. The machines themselves can fit into roughly 50–200 m² of workshop space, but raw-material and finished-product storage, walkways, and auxiliary areas also count. Therefore, a total site of at least 300–500 m² is recommended.

Other investment items: In addition to equipment and premises, startup funds should cover electrical service upgrades, power distribution, water supply, and environmental measures (e.g., dust collection, wastewater treatment).

Downstream Markets for Recycled Plastic Flakes

Injection-moulding plants – A major outlet for regrind. Many moulders of household items, appliance housings, pallets/crates, toy parts, and similar goods purchase flakes and blend them with virgin resin. For products with modest quality requirements—rubbish bins, flowerpots, plastic pallets, etc.—processors willingly incorporate a high share of recycled content to cut costs.

Extrusion and blow-moulding plants – Makers of sheet, pipe and profile, film, and hollow articles. Use of regrind is common here as well. PE/PP flakes feed pipe extruders for non-pressure drainage or conduit pipes; recycled HDPE is blow-moulded into wheelie bins, pallets, and other large hollow parts; recycled PET bottle flakes are mainly spun into polyester fibre by textile mills.

Compounding & pelletising companies – Specialists that buy flakes, blend formulations, filter contaminants, and melt-pelletise to produce uniform recycled pellets. They are key customers for small recyclers that only crush and wash material. Pelletisers modify flakes (adding fillers, colour, deodorising, etc.) and supply pellets to injection/extrusion processors. They purchase in ton-scale lots and demand clean, consistent material—so a small plant with a steady supply of single-grade flakes (e.g., pure ABS, pure PP) will always find buyers.

Other applications & end markets – Recycled PE/PP flakes serve as feedstock for wood–plastic composites, co-extruded with wood flour into outdoor decking and fencing. Recycled PP flakes can also be converted into fibres for rope or carpet backing.

Advantages, Features, and Profit Pathways of Small-Scale Plastic-Recycling Equipment

Low investment, quick payback

The capital threshold for a small line is far lower than for a large plant, so returns are realised sooner.

Reduced energy use, economical operation

Manufacturers optimise these units for lower-capacity conditions, resulting in lower specific energy consumption and operating costs.

Minimal labour, easy to run

Thanks to automation and compact design, very few operators are needed; in many cases a single worker can supervise the entire line.

Small footprint, flexible siting

The equipment is typically compact; an entire line requires only a few dozen to a few hundred square metres and can be installed in a regular workshop or even a converted residential space.

Environmental benefits and government support

Because throughput is modest, emissions and noise are easier to control, making compliance less costly and often qualifying the operation for policy incentives.

Types of Materials Suitable for Small-Scale Recycling Plants

Small plastic recycling facilities are not suited to every kind of plastic waste. Given their equipment capacity and process characteristics, they work best with relatively clean, single-material, rigid thermoplastics. Common suitable materials include:

Purgings (extruder/injection “head” waste)	These are transition, leakage, or clean-out lumps produced during extrusion or injection moulding. Formed from pure resin melt with virtually no contaminants, their quality approaches that of virgin resin and thus commands high recycling value.
ABS resin	A typical engineering plastic sourced from discarded electronics housings (TVs, monitors), automotive interior parts, and industrial off-cuts. Note that ABS from e-waste may contain flame retardants; it must be segregated to prevent mixing into food-contact recycled grades.
PP (polypropylene)	Widely used in household items (basins, buckets, boxes), automotive parts (bumpers, dashboards), woven sacks and tapes, caps, etc. Small plants are best at recycling clean PP scrap such as industrial rejects from totes, stools, pails, or trimming waste from woven-bag factories.
PE (polyethylene)	Covers HDPE and LDPE/LLDPE. Typical feedstocks are rigid HDPE (pesticide bottles, oil jugs, pipes, tanks) and LDPE films (agricultural mulch, industrial packaging film).

Cleanliness and single-material purity are critical. Small equipment lacks the sophisticated sorting ability of large plants; if feedstock is a multi-plastic mix or heavily contaminated, processing efficiency and economics drop sharply. Post-consumer household waste—containing food residue, paper labels, and multiple polymers—is rarely economical for a small plant. Therefore, sourcing should focus on controllable industrial scrap (factory off-cuts, reject parts) or pre-sorted pure streams (e.g., collected caps, single-colour material). Such inputs require no costly washing-sorting lines and can be handled by compact machinery, ensuring the operation runs efficiently “within its means.”

Comparing Large-Scale Recycling Plants vs. Small-Scale Plants: Scalability and Deployment Flexibility

Expansion approaches – Growing a large plant usually entails massive capital outlays and long construction timelines; site selection, building, and equipment commissioning can take years. A small plant, by contrast, can expand progressively: as business grows, it can simply add one or several identical small lines or swap in higher-capacity models for key machines.

Investment risk – Large facilities enjoy economies of scale in unit processing cost, but their upfront investment is huge and their fixed operating costs are high, making them highly dependent on steady feedstock and stable markets. If supply is disrupted or product prices fall, a large project can struggle. A small plant, being “a small boat that turns quickly,” is far more nimble: in a weak market it can throttle back or even pause production with limited losses; in a strong market it can run overtime to capture extra profit.

Feedstock sourcing – A large plant must sustain a vast supply chain, often building nationwide or even global collection networks—adding logistics cost and managerial complexity. A small plant can “eat local,” forging tight partnerships with nearby scrap dealers and factories to secure material just-in-time and close to home.

Deployment flexibility – Because of their modest footprint and siting advantages, small plants can be located right where plastic waste arises. Shorter logistics routes save freight costs and cut carbon emissions.

Environmental and social benefits – The huge throughput of a large plant demands extremely stringent environmental controls; mismanagement can create pollution risks or provoke community complaints. Small plants are easier to manage: each batch can be cleaned up immediately after processing, and they typically serve the local area with a strong sense of community responsibility, leading to smoother environmental performance and better neighbor relations.