Our 2018 Review

Previously posted News & Blogs from 2018

BREXIT and concerns about plastic waste have dominated the news in 2018.  Despite the BREXIT pessimism, UK exporters continue to export and the plastics industry is working hard to pacify environmentalists.  2018 has been another great year for Bunting Europe and we look back on the past twelve months of our news and blogs.

January

2018 started with the announcement of our attendance at the 17th International Electronics Recycling Congress (IERC) in Salzberg, Austria.  After the event, we write a review highlighting that the congress recognised that changes in e-waste management are needed.  Secondary electronics continues to be a source of many valuable and precious metals.  With technology such as the Stainless Steel Magnetic Separator, it is possible to recover printed circuit boards (PCBs) from waste.

Towards the end of January, we listed the record number of exhibitions and conferences being attended in 2018.  It was going to be another busy 12 months.

We also announced of search for a representative in German to help develop business in the recycling sector.  This search remains ongoing.

February

The UK Government had announced that 2018 was going to be the Year of Engineering.  We announced our support, highlighting the need to encourage young people to seek a career in an exciting and ever-changing industry.

In February, we were invited to attend a RWM digital masterclass at the Google headquarters in London.  The RWM exhibition had been acquired by PRYSM Media and they wanted to show how they were going to breathe new life into the struggling event.

A week later we announced our continued support for RWM with confirmation of exhibiting in 2018.  We had taken the opportunity to book one of the premier stands, immediately opposite the entrance to the show.  With our extensive range of Bunting and Master Magnets metal separation equipment, we wanted to demonstrate that we are now one of the major suppliers to the recycling industry.

One of our large ongoing export orders is supplying In Line Magnets to a baby food producer in Germany.  By February 2018, we had supplied 42.  The In Line Magnets remove ferrous metal contamination.

Our final blog of the month focused on how contamination is hindering the recycling of plastic.  Plastic recycling companies face huge challenges due to unnecessary and avoidable contamination.

March

Our first blog in March asked whether recycling in the UK was reaching crisis point.  What were the politicians going to do with recycling targets unlikely to be achieved and the ongoing pressure to deal with plastic waste?

We announced the expansion of our sales team with the appointment of Mark Harris, a field sales engineer for the Southern part of the UK.

In February 2018, Youngs Seafood had recalled fish cakes due to the possible presence of metal and plastic.  We investigated how this could occur and what measures were needed to prevent re-occurrence.

In March, Bunting and Master Magnets were announced as the joint headline sponsors of the WASTE’18 exhibition.  We also announced that Bunting and Master Magnets were exhibiting high intensity magnetic separators at the Ceramitec trade show in Munich, Germany.  Master Magnets has a global reputation in the ceramics and mineral processing industries and Ceramitec is one the premier world exhibitions.

In a move to pacify environmentalists, the UK Government announced a new UK drinks container recycling strategy in March 2018.  However, the announcement raised more questions than answers and we assessed whether the proposed changes would make a difference.

April

In 2017, the UK Food Standards Agency reported six cases of food being recalled due to metal contamination.  We reviewed all six cases and assessed why the problems occurred and how they could have been prevented.

Ceramitec was held between 10th and 13th April 2018 and proved to be a great success.  An order for two Master Magnets Electromagnetic Filters was placed at the show by a Turkish ceramics producer.

In Telford, UK the Polymer Training and Innovation Centre added a Bunting Magnetics Drawer Filter Magnet to the range of equipment at their plastics manufacturing training facility.  This extended the range of equipment used to train the next generation of plastics engineers.  Later that month, the Polymer Training and Innovation Centre held the Technivation conference, attracting delegates from across the UK plastics sector.

In April, we had conducted 3 separate Magnetic Separation Audits at UK food companies.  Each audit using the Pull Test assessment method of determining magnetic strength by measuring the force needed to remove specific metal items from the surface.  The audits found that several of the Magnetic Separators were no longer fit for purpose due to damage, age or location.

May

We announced our support and sponsorship for the Tŷ Hafan #5in55 Mountain Challenge.  Between the 5th and 7th July 2018, a group of Dads, whose families have been supported by Tŷ Hafan, were aiming to climb and travel between five UK mountains in a maximum of 55 hours.  We had been thrilled to sponsor the Ben Nevis leg of the challenge.

Our next exhibition was 2018 was the IFAT tradeshow in Germany.  IFAT was the largest waste and recycling focused event in Europe and an ideal location to demonstrate the Stainless Steel Magnetic Separator and Eddy Current Separator.  The show proved to be exceptionally successful.

June

In early June, the UK Food Standards Agency announced the recall of 59 pastry products due to the potential presence of metal.  This affected products being sold by major UK food retailers Tesco, Aldi and Nisa.

The busy exhibition schedule continued with a review of the Hillhead 2018 event.  Master Magnets had exhibited at the show for decades and this was the first joint stand.  The show was another success with orders were secured on the stand.

Plastic waste returned to our news with a review of FF Drawer Filter Magnets installed at EcoVyn in Wrexham, UK.  Since the installation of the magnetic separators, EcoVyn had reduced their waste by 94%.

July

We started with a review of the WASTE’18 show where we were offering companies a ‘Metal Separation MOT’.  The exhibitions train kept rolling and our next blog reviewed the CARS 18 exhibition at NAEC in Stoneleigh, UK.

Plastic waste and recycling hit the headlines again in July.  Brussels-based Plastic Recyclers Europe (PRE) and the Association of Plastic Recyclers in Washington, USA concluded that there are four conditions that define a plastic product as being “recyclable”.  This appeared to be a logical and helpful proposal that is yet to be accepted by the EU and the UK.

August

With the RWM show being less than 1 month away, we reviewed our attendance at the show.  With such a prominent stand, we wanted it to be very interactive and turned it into a metal separation test centre.

The UK Food Standards Agency announced the latest metal-in-food safety alert, reporting that Tereos UK had recalled Granulated Sugar due to the presence of small metal pieces.  We reviewed the challenges of removing metal from sugar.

In August, Skip Hire Magazine featured an article we had written entitled ‘Metal Detectors Detecting More Than Treasure‘.  The article was re-published as a blog and looks at how Metal Detectors are used widely in the waste and recycling industry.

In anticipation of the RWM waste and recycling show in September, we reviewed 3 facts about plastic packaging waste.  These included how much plastic waste is produced, the present recycling rate, and the existing plastic recycling plant infrastructure.

September

The rejuvenated RWM18 proved to be a huge success for the organisers and Bunting.  There was a constant flow of traffic on the stand with a great deal of interest in the working Stainless Steel Magnetic Separator and Eddy Current Separator.

Later in the month, we celebrated the 2018 Recycle Week (24-30 September) by reviewing three successful plastics recycling projects.

October

In October 2018, the Master Magnets brand celebrated its 40th anniversary.  Over 40 years, Master Magnets has developed into one of the world’s leading suppliers of magnetic separators and metal detectors to the mineral processing, ceramics and recycling industries.

Our technical article ‘Practically Measuring Magnetic Separator Strength‘ reviewed practical and accurate methods of testing magnetic separators.  This method is used by many food processing companies as part of an annual audit of their processing equipment.

We had reason to celebrate in October, with the announcement that we had been awarded the ISO45001 international standard for occupational health and safety (OH&S).  This relates to all activities on their European manufacturing headquarters in Berkhamsted, United Kingdom.  Congratulations to our Health and Safety Committee!

One extensive Magnetic Separation Audit undertaken in 2018 was for Jordans Dorset Ryvita at their factory in Poole, UK.  The 3-day audit reviewed 52 different Magnetic Separators.

There was more export success with the sale of 24 Drawer Filter Magnets to a plastics producer in France.  The sale had been secured by Bunting’s local representative BMS.

November

Despite the growing unrest about BREXIT, there was still positive news about business overseas.  15 Magnetic Liquid Traps were sold to fruit juice producers in Spain.  Additional orders are expected in 2019.

Dave Hills and Tom Higginbottom provided support to local representative Tekemas at two trade shows in Scandinavia.  The Scanpack show in Goteburg, Sweden and FoodTech in Herning, Denmark provided an opportunity to gather information on the local market and provide training.

Plastic waste returned to the news with a blog that was first featured as a headline article in the British Plastics & Rubber magazine (Nov/Dec 18).  The article was titled ‘The Changing Face of Plastics Recycling‘ and assessed changes made in 2018.

December

Laura Joubert from our South Africa representative Eder Design traveled to the UK for product training.  Over a week, Laura had the opportunity to meet both the Master Magnets and Bunting teams, whilst receiving training on Magnetic Separators and Metal Detectors.

As 2018 draws to a close, we reviewed our first overseas exhibition of 2019:  ArabPlast.  We attended ArabPlast, Dubai, UAE in 2017 and it proved to be a big success with orders secured on the stand.  We will again be exhibiting in 2019 (5-8 January 2019).

We hope you have enjoyed reading our news and blogs in 2018.  If there are any topics that you would like reviewed, then please get in touch and send an email to Paul our press officer (press@bunting-berkhamsted.com).

For further information on Magnetic Separators or Metal Detectors please contact the Bunting team on:

• sales.berkhamsted@buntingmagnetics.com
• call us on +44 1442 875081
• Send an enquiry via our website