It has been a busy second half of 2020 for the recycling industry and for Arlington Machinery in this space.  There has been several announcements of large expansions for recycling across the board.  As for Arlington’s customers, in these recent months, we have seen a large uptick in demand for large shredders, granulators and pelletizing lines, compared to 2019. 

In October alone we took orders on 3 pelletizing lines. What’s most encouraging about the market is that these lines were sold into 3 different customer types.  The first line was to produce pellet for a proprietary deck board from ocean plastic. Having more end products used from post-consumer plastic is key to keep demand high for recycling equipment.  The second will be installed for an industrial blow molding manufacture, to help with inhouse scrap. Its good to see large investment and focus for molding companies to deal with the scrap generated from there processes.  The last line was sold to a toll compounder. Seeing demand from all types of customers would indicate a healthy market for this type of equipment. 

The size reduction machinery seems to commend higher prices and demand if the equipment is with 15 years old.  We successfully liquidated 2 complete recycling plants with better than expected results.  One plant was design for post-consumer film with shredding washing and pelletizing.  The second was a postindustrial plant handling cleaner and more bulkier parts. Both plants had large customer interest for the machinery and back up bidders. Both projects were completed in under 3 months. This would suggest that this type of equipment will hold its value in a forced liquidation platform. 

DATA Points 

  • Late Model Cumberland Granulators - Approximately 50% of New
  • Late Model Davis Standard Extruder - Approximately 50% of New 
  • Material Handling Equipment For Plastic Reclaim Applications - 35% of New
  • Gala Pelletizing Systems - 60% of New