PM Fiala Attends Opening of SAKO Brno’s First-of-Its-Kind Automatic Waste Sorting Line

The ceremonial opening in the Sako Brno compound in Brno-Lisen yesterday (L-R: Petr Fiala; Brno Mayor Marketa Vankova; Environment Minister Petr Hladik; Karel Volf, director, Metrostav; Robert Procházka, director, VÚMZ SK; Pavel Urubek, Chair of the Sako Brno board of directors; Robert Suchanek, director IMOS Brno; Pavel Blazek, Justice Minister). Photo credit: JS / Brno Daily.

Brno, March 20 (CTK) – The Czech Republic’s first automatic plastic waste sorting line had its ceremonial opening in the Sako Brno compound in Brno-Lisen yesterday, in the presence of Czech PM Petr Fiala, Brno Mayor Marketa Vankova, Environment Minister Petr Hladik and Justice Minister Pavel Blazek.

Fiala (ODS) told journalists that protection of the environment, along with the circular economy, was one of the cabinet’s priorities, and that he hoped similar projects would follow in other Czech towns.

“In terms of the collection of recyclable commodities, the Czech Republic ranks among the best countries in Europe,” said Fiala. “Nevertheless, we are short of technologies for sorting the separated waste and production capacities for the recycling itself. I view the opening of this modern sorting line, subsidised by the State Environmental Fund, as the first of many. I firmly hope that similar projects in other towns will follow.” 

The opening was preceded by remarks from political and business representatives (L-R: Fiala, Vankova, Hladik, Blazek, Urubek, Volf). Credit: JS / Brno Daily.

The automatic line, which cost CZK 330 million, can process up to 4.5 tons of plastic waste per hour. It can also process waste disposed of in bags, which it rips open so that it can be sorted in bulk. Its software program can distinguish pieces of plastic waste according to their shape, composition and colour. The line then divides the plastics into 2D (eg. bags and foil) and 3D (eg. cups, tubs, and cans). 

A magnetic separator collects ferrous metals and an inductive separator collects non-ferrous metals, which allows for the separation of metal packaging, such as beverage cans or aluminium lids. Residents of Brno can put this waste in yellow containers together with plastic. The powerful press compresses individual sorted types of plastic and paper collected in cubicles into bales for further processing. The line also processes polystyrene.

“The automatic method of separating waste extends the possibilities of waste recycling and minimises the volume of the remaining unusable waste,” said Hladik (KDU-CSL), who was closely involved in the realisation of the facility in his former role as Brno’s Deputy Mayor with responsibility for the environment. “The technology, which can detect recyclable plastic commodities with up to 95% accuracy, will help sort waste not only in Brno but also for a large part of the South Moravia Region. The automatic line processes four times more plastic waste than manual sorting.” 

The previous system processed 6,000 tonnes of plastic waste with accuracy of 35% at most. The new line will process over 20,000 tons of plastic waste a year.

The newly-built hall which houses the sorting line is 66 metres long, 32 metres wide and 15 metres high. It is accompanied by another hall, similar in size, to house both transported waste to be sorted and packages with clean raw materials intended for further recycling.

The State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic provided a subsidy of CZK 43 million for the construction of the sorting line as part of the Environment Operational Program. Metrostav DIZ and IMOS Brno built both halls for the municipal company SAKO Brno, the Slovak company VÚMZ SK supplied the technology.

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