Turn waste to value - contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 

    

Our world faces significant challenges:

In 2050, there will be 9 billion people worldwide, of which 70% will live in big cities. This will cause environmental and transport challenges. In Europe alone, about 500,000 people die due to air pollution every year. This indicates that managing air pollution and waste is a prerequisite for being able to live in the cities.

Despite its reputation, plastic is a great and usable material. In 1962, 15 million tons of plastic were produced. In 2014, this figure had grown to 311 million tons, of which 26 percent was used for packaging. Today, the demand for plastic is growing more than steel and concrete. We cannot and should not avoid plastic entering the market altogether, but we need to ensure that the plastic that is put into circulation in our society can be recycled in a circular economy and can be collected and handled environmentally and economically.

It is estimated that a staggering 8 million tons of plastic waste are being dumped in the oceans yearly. This is equivalent to a garbage truck emptying its cargo into the sea every minute. This pollution is detrimental to not only the wildlife. There is an urgent need to increase the possibilities and motivation to ensure plastics are recycled. One crucial way to do this is to make it more profitable to recycle them.

Our motto "Turn waste to value" is more relevant than ever to achieve our shared goal of a cleaner and more sustainable world.

For more than 20 years expertise, quality, and innovation have been embedded in RUNI's DNA. Today, our screw compactors play a crucial role in refining waste into valuable resources, improving the motivation and feasibility of recycling and contributing to a circular economy and energy optimization.

To put it into perspective:

Around the world, RUNI compactors have compacted approximately 400.000 tons of EPS - and thus prepared it for the recycling process. This corresponds to the weight of approximately 37 Eiffel Towers of a product that consists of 98 % air!

For every kilo of EPS recycled worldwide, the consumption and CO2 emissions of 3 liters of crude oil are saved. The current 380,000 tons of recycled EPS corresponds to over 545,000 trips worldwide by car.

And these are just the achievements from our machines for compacting EPS.

RUNI is aligning with several of UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

SDG 7, Affordable and Clean Energy, through the company's usage of electricity produced in an environmentally friendly way.

SDG 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, through EPS compaction and dewatering of rejects and packaging, and hence enhancing the separation and recycling of more waste streams. The compacting and separation of materials also protect the air quality in the cities as it ensures full loads on trucks and helps avoid more trucks on the roads than necessary because the trucks do not need to transport air and waste liquids.

SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, through compacted EPS, PET-bottles, and cans which can be used as raw materials for production instead of virgin materials.

SDG 14, Life Below Water, through solutions for compacting fish boxes and other plastic materials in a way that makes the handling, sorting, and recycling of the fractions easier and more profitable to avoid the disposal of these materials into the seas.