Igus removes old energy chains to ease recycling
Since 2019 Igus has given old energy chains a second life by recycling them under the chainge’ recycling program. Now the motion plastics specialist is going one step further: since an upgrade often means installing a whole new system, Igus removes old energy chains and recycles them.
Ultimately, every machine and every component will reach the end of its life. Manufacturing companies are then faced with the question: new machine or upgrade? According to the Global E-Waste Monitor, 53.6 million tons of electronic waste were collected worldwide in 2019 alone. Upgrading old machines is more environmentally friendly, and means instead of buying new machines, companies can have existing systems and equipment converted or retrofitted in order to bring them up to date. But the challenge of what to do with the old components remain.
Whether new installation, retrofit or maintenance of a machine, Igus supports recycling instead of disposal – and this can begin during upgrade installation planning. With each new installation service order, the recycling service is automatically offered, with no additional cost or effort for the customer.
In four simple steps, Igus takes care of the old material. First, it removes the old energy chain, dismantling it into smaller pieces for removal. Igus can then organise the return transport and logistics. The customer only must collect the old material and prepare it for collection. The plastic parts are then recycled as part of Igus’ chainge program, which applies to both Igus e-chains and third-party chains from other manufacturers. Customers receive a voucher based on the weight of the chains. The discarded plastics are sorted, cleaned and re-granulated so that the raw material can be reused.
The customer receives everything from the manufacturer from a single source – including a 36-month warranty on the newly installed energy supply system.
With the Igus installation service, customers save assembly time and costs, benefit from very short downtimes and use parts with a longer service life. This also leads to fewer long-term failures.
A special online tool even allows users to accurately calculate the installation time for their energy chain system. “Igus’s goal is to save customers valuable time with the installation service, and at the same time offer them a sustainable solution for disposing of used materials,” says Justin Leonard, e-chain director at Igus. “With this scheme, we want to make a further contribution to the more sustainable use of limited resources.”
The Igus chainge recycling program for energy and drag chains has already collected and recycled over 32 tons of material worldwide. “We are very pleased that the chainge recycling program is very popular with our customers and we’re confident that we will be able to increase the results achieved so far in 2022 by 100% – if not more – over the rest of the year,” adds Leonard.
Visit the Igus website for more information
