Question 1

What quality of recycled PP can I get from woven bag recycling?

Accepted Answer

From clean or lightly contaminated PP woven bags (animal feed, clean grain sacks), recycled PP pellets with contamination below 300 ppm, MFI of 2–6 g/10 min (230°C/2.16kg), and consistent colour (natural to light grey) are achievable with a well-configured line. From cement or fertiliser-contaminated bags, achieving below 500 ppm contamination is the practical target for most line designs. Colour is typically grey to off-white depending on contamination. These rPP pellets are suitable for woven sack re-manufacture (typically blended with virgin PP at 20–40% recycled content), pipe grade applications, and injection moulded products where colour is not critical.

Question 2

Can FIBC (jumbo bag) recycling use the same line as small sack recycling?

Accepted Answer

FIBC big bags are larger and heavier than small sacks, typically made from heavier woven PP fabric, and often include PE liner bags. A standard small sack shredder may not have sufficient motor torque or feed opening to handle a 1,000kg FIBC. For FIBC recycling, a dedicated heavy-duty shredder with a large feed opening and high torque motor is required as the primary size reduction stage. Following size reduction to manageable pieces, the downstream washing and pelletising stages can often be shared with a small sack line if designed with sufficient capacity.

Question 3

Is there a market for recycled PP from woven bags?

Accepted Answer

Yes — recycled PP from woven bags is used by woven bag manufacturers (who blend rPP into new bag production to meet recycled content targets), by pipe and fitting manufacturers (for non-pressure applications), by injection moulders producing non-food products (crates, pallets, bins), and by fibre producers. The market price and demand vary by region and PP commodity market conditions. In South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey) and China, woven bag recycling to rPP is a well-established commercial activity. In other regions, market development may require building relationships with end-users before investing in recycling capacity.

Question 4

How should I pre-sort PP woven bags before the recycling line?

Accepted Answer

Remove metal contamination (wire ties, metal closures) by magnet and manual inspection before the shredder. Separate FIBC from small sacks if feeding the same line — size difference affects shredder feeding. If possible, separate cement bags from fertiliser bags from clean bags — different contamination types may benefit from different washing parameters. Remove visibly degraded, shredded, or very dusty bags that generate excess fines. Empty bags as completely as possible before shredding — residual material contributes to wash load and wastewater treatment demand.

PP Raffia Gewebesack Recycling Lieferanten

PP woven bag and raffia waste — sources and processing challenges

Recycling line configuration for PP woven bags