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Higher throughput and purer fractions: Immark's shredding solution for future-proof WEEE recycling

December 9, 2025

Immark AG, a pioneer and Swiss market leader in the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment, faced the urgent challenge of coping with uncertain material flows, seasonal peaks, and increasing throughput requirements, as the capacity of its existing processing line was reaching its limits in 2022. In order to improve efficiency and the recycling rate while ensuring economic viability, Immark designed a completely new, modular shredding line in Regensdorf. By integrating the Rotorshredder RS 2018 for coarse shredding and a Rotor Impact Mill (RPMV) for fine processing, both from BHS Sonthofen, Immark achieved significant success: The plant now runs stably with higher throughput and delivers significantly cleaner material fractions, which increases the value of the recycled materials and makes the operation future-proof.

As part of the Thommen Group, one of Switzerland's largest recycling companies, Immark is a licensed partner of the SENS and SWICO take-back systems and achieves a recycling rate of up to 95%. The established take-back system in Switzerland leads to a constant volume of material, enabling Immark to achieve one of the highest return rates in Europe. However, seasonal fluctuations, especially the peaks between Black Friday and Christmas, mean that Immark has to temporarily work in three shifts. These constant and at the same time peak material volumes made modernization absolutely necessary.

To solve this problem, Immark decided to renew its collaboration with BHS Sonthofen, which has been in place since 2001. The main step in the new processing line in Regensdorf is the shredding of electrical and electrionic waste. The investment focused on increasing capacity and improving efficiency as well as the recycling and recovery rate.

The new shredding solution has a modular design, which made it possible to replace the old line step by step without interrupting ongoing operations. The BHS Rotorshredder RS 2018 went into operation at the beginning of 2023 and is designed to selectively shred the feed material using intensive impact, collision, and shearing forces. An important advantage of the RS 2018 is its ability to shred components containing hazardous substances, such as batteries or capacitors.

The downstream Rotor Impact Mill, which was delivered and modernized in 2016, handles the fine processing. The RPMV is a high-performance shredder with a vertical shaft and is used to break down metal composites, shred brittle components and pelletize and clean metals (such as copper or aluminum). The end product achieves a processing quality that allows it to be used directly in smelting plants or in plastics processing.

The close coordination of the plant components was ensured by a test phase at BHS in Sonthofen, where pre-sorted material was tested in the test center to determine the optimal combination of plant components.

Thanks to the new, optimized plant, Immark was able to achieve its goals: In addition to higher throughput and increased efficiency, the company achieves significantly cleaner material fractions. This not only increases the value of the recycled materials, but also enables more energy-efficient and safer operation, which contributes significantly to improved profitability and sustainability.