Clean air meets clean recycling
M+R Filtermedien from Wandlitz uses recycled plastics for the production of air filters. Managing Director Sven Birkholz is looking for someone interested in the residual plastic generated during the production processes.
The company M+R Filtermedien is looking for partners
Resource efficiency as a challenge: M+R Filtermedien in Wandlitz is committed to using recycled materials for the manufacturing of air filters. The production generates waste that can, in turn, be reutilised. The Managing Director, Sven Birkholz, has been looking for interested companies for a long time.
The filters made by M+R Filtermedien GmbH in Wandlitz make sure that the air is clean. They absorb pollutants from the air and retain them. They cannot be recycled. “They really have to be incinerated because of all the environmental pollutants that have been filtered out of the air and that are trapped in our filters.” After having been used, however, they can be burned and they do not leave any residues behind because even the frames do not contain metal components. In this way the filters can be useful one last time and provide energy in the form of heat.
Up to 12% of PET recycling materials are used for the production of the filters – it is not possible to use more if the products must be white. For other applications, however, 80% could be reached – in the case of the frames even 90%. Although the high share of recycled materials does not pay off financially, it gives M+R a competitive edge because many customers value sustainable products. According to Managing Director Sven Birkholz, municipalities still need to catch up in this area: “We would also like politicians to make sure that the municipalities buy their filters sustainably.”
However, the production itself also generates waste. Even though the quantities of waste are small, Birkholz refuses to give up the hope of finding a partner willing to take this waste that consists of reusable materials. “We would like to reintroduce our waste into the economic cycle because it consists of high-quality plastics that could really be used for other purposes,” says Birkholz.