Shredder key to Japanese recovery effort

A slow-speed high-torque shredder made in the United States is playing a critical role in a Japanese company’s effort to obtain energy recovery value from difficult-to-recycle material.

According to SSI Shredding Systems Inc., based in the U.S., the installation at a Kayama Kogyo Co. Ltd. facility in Toyokawa, Japan, was undertaken to accomplish several waste and recycling-related goals.

SSI describes Kayama, which was established in 1961, as specializing in waste collection, transportation, disposal and recycling. The company conducts its own research into disposal and recycling technologies with the objective of creating a sustainable and healthy environment, says the equipment maker.

“We very much enjoy working with Kayama,” says Rich Ellis, Asia market sales manager for SSI. “Kayama is a progressive company working to make the world a better place.”

An SSI Quad Q100SD at the Toyokawa Plant is “one of many SSI shredder installations that Kayama owns and operates,” according to SSI.

At Toyokawa, the SSI four-shaft shredder serves as both a primary shredder and a “size reducing powerhouse,” says the equipment provider.

A video posted by SSI to its website says materials fed into the Q100SD include mixed waste, fishnet and super sacks.

In Toyokawa, the QuadQ100SD blades are spaced 2.5-inches (65 millimeters, or mm) apart while the screen size for outbound material is set at four inches (100 mm). The shredding setup has been designed to process a variety of materials and produce a small, consistent particle size, says SSI, to “create an environmentally friendly fuel material.”

A magnet placed between the four-shaft shredder and the outbound material also recovers ferrous scrap for recycling. A hand picker working the outbound material line is on hand for additional quality control measures.

SSI describes the Q100 as being “known as multipurpose shredders because they are designed to work like a two-shaft shredder when the internal screen is removed, or as a sizing shredder that’s able to shred, liberate and reduce a wide range of commingled materials without overly thick metals, in one pass.”

It lists aluminum extrusions, electronic scrap, obsolete appliances, material recovery facility (MRF) residuals, plastic scrap, carpet and paper mill ragger wire as materials successfully handled by installed Q11 models.

Kayama president and CEO Junichiro Kayama says the shredding system has been crucial toward its main goal of landfill diversion of materials that do not commonly have mechanical recycling outcomes. He also is complimentary of SSI equipment.

“We currently have three SSI shredders in operation,” the CEO says. “They are capable of processing extremely difficult materials, which makes them very useful. Also, the customer service has been amazing, which has given us peace of mind.”