A Hungarian company that distributes office supplies and IT equipment operates a 10,000 sqm distribution center where nearly 100 workers prepare hundreds of packages a day for dispatch to resellers nationwide. The business was facing a triple challenge in waste management and now Orwak twin balers keep the packaging waste at bay.
A business of that magnitude must handle an almost infinite amount of packaging material. The continuous flow of corrugated cardboard and plastic film caused problems in the operation, and they could only be solved by fundamentally rethinking the entire waste management system. Orwak Hungary conducted a waste audit and recommended a new compaction and baling solution.
A triple challenge: quantity, volume and labor
Selective waste collection is always a good idea – as long as it is a manageable amount of waste and it does not take a person half a day to sort it. However, in this Hungarian distribution center a lot of packaging material accumulated in a short time and the loose cardboard wrapping, plastic film, small and large boxes, etc. occupied valuable floor space, which could be used more productively for other purposes.
In addition to the quantity and volume, the use of labor was another challenge. The staff wasted time and energy on manual waste handling in the attempt to keep the situation under control. Workers jumped on boxes, cut cardboard and pushed the foil into already overflowing bins and crammed containers. It was an untenable situation, and the distribution center urgently needed a modern and a more effective waste solution.
Maximum efficiency: two balers next to each other
Packaging material, corrugated cardboard and plastic film in this case, is generated in the distribution center where goods are unpacked and repacked. It proved to be the best solution to place two Orwak balers, one for each waste type, next to each other.
When it came to the choice of model, a machine with a small footprint, yet a generous loading aperture was required, and the Orwak baler COMPACT 3120 lived up to the expectations. The 1-meter-wide loading aperture is its most important feature and creates a big advantage, since large cardboard boxes can be easily loaded into the machine without any folding or cutting. One baler compacts corrugated cardboard and the other plastic film. Thus, the volume of waste is reduced directly at source and moreover, it facilitates and encourages waste separation and recycling.
The result speaks for itself
The 3120 baler proved to be the ideal choice for baling small and medium quantities of packaging materials. It produces bales weighing 100-130 kg, which is advantageous from a logistical point of view. The bales can be easily moved and stored next to or on top of each other, to save even more space.
The distribution center produces approximately 8 cardboard bales and 5 plastic bales in 1.5-2 weeks, so in this case it was not only justified to install one baler, but to put two units to work simultaneously. The ready-to-deliver bales line up nicely:
