PHOTO: The MyPlas production team includes process engineer Pierre van Zyl, customer relationship manager John Nield, co-MD Walter Jordaan, chairman Stephan Roux (the Pretoria ice cream baron) and joint MD Johann Conradie

FIVE years since establishment, Cape recycler MyPlas is processing 700 tons a month of HDPE and PP – and is now also one of the largest post-consumer recyclers of polypropylene in South Africa.

The company was started in 2012 by three partners – Johann Conradie, Walter Jordaan and Stephan Roux – with a team of very experienced recyclers.  At that stage they were processing 180 tons a month at a plant in Stikland in Cape Town with funding from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and a private investor. The plant was later upgraded with funding from POLYCO in 2015. That year the Lomold group exited the scene, with its recycling business Proplas in Bellville being jettisoned in the aftermath. MyPlas subsequently purchased all the Proplas equipment from the bank and restarted the plant at the former Proplas site in nearby Bellville Industria, moving from its previous location.

John Nield, the original founder of Proplas, remained with the company and is now key-customer relationship manager at the expanded MyPlas operation, an important advantage for the company as experience is vital in the still developing plastic recycling business – and John has over 30 years’ experience.

“We are now slowly replacing the worn Chinese machinery with high-speed European equipment, including Weima, Erema, Untha and Tria,” said Johann.

“We are very excited about the entry of POLYCO over the last few years as it has already contributed immensely in helping the recyclers and recycling industry in SA,” he added.

Last year MyPlas installed a highly sophisticated R2-million laboratory, with help again from the IDC and POLYCO. By far the most sophisticated of any recycler in South Africa, the MyPlas lab can perform a complete range of tests, including impact, tensile, meltflow, density, ash content, oxidation induction time, polymer composition and more.  Where required, Myplas provides Certificates of Conformance with material to ensure peace of mind for clients.

MyPlas is also in the process of attaining ISO certification.

 

Mypolen ‘upcycling’ venture

The latest venture to emerge from this forward-thinking recycler is the ‘upcycling’ of some of its materials with additives to improve characteristics such as MFI, impact resistance and thermal stability.

“With our state-of-the art lab we are able to develop custom materials for our clients. We achieve this by sorting deliberately according to requirements, pre-blending of raw materials and compounding our recycled materials with additives,” explained Johann.

“The end product, known as Mypolen, is both a product and a service,” said Johann.

“Pellets are continuously tested and classified in our lab. The mechanical data is regularly monitored and quoted in our data sheets on the basis of these tests.

“Feedback from clients so far has been positive with the newly developed Mypolen HD and Mypolen PP materials meeting with very favourable response from test customers. The base materials for the Mypolen materials are HDPE and PP plastic waste, which are obtained from, among other sources, post-consumer household and industrial waste collections. We process these materials at our plant in several stages, hand sorting according to colour and type of plastic, before it goes for extrusion. The end-result is a pelletised material suitable for the production of high-quality products, also for the consumer segment.

“We can always try to comply with customer requests for specific colours and properties. These materials are aimed at replacing virgin plastics in critical components.

“We’ve also started to sell to quality-sensitive industries like the auto industry and we have started exporting into Africa and South America,” said Johann.

 

Addition to the team

A new addition to the 150-strong MyPlas staff is Pierre van Zyl, a process engineer with 30 years’ recycling and extrusion experience, including at Plastamid. 

“Pierre brings a critical, quality-first approach to MyPlas from his Plastamid days and has been tasked with achieving our ISO certification during 2017.”

Johann and Walter attended the K2016 show in Germany last year and observed that the European recycling industry appeared to be moving away from current high levels of incineration towards more mechanical recycling – something the South African recycling industry is already a world leader in.

“However, to achieve higher recycling rates in SA we have to not only stimulate the supply of waste, but also demand for the recyclate. We can’t depend on black bags, chairs and pipes as the main clients forever, but have to move into industries that historically used virgin only,” he added. 

www.myplas.co.za