Recycling of Cables

KEMA has expert knowledge on the recycling of cables of all types of materials

TRICARE cable recycling
Processing and especially recycling of plastic products has been an ongoing activity for a long time now. It has provided us with a better insight into the various material flows and their sustainable application. Considerations in choosing between mechanical recycling and other technologies directed to energy recovery from products are of great importance.
KEMA is often a pioneer in contributing to the recycling of rubbers, glass, fly ash, gypsum, cable joints, bitumen, fiber-reinforced plastics, construction and demolition waste.
In the field of tension between the government (Ministry of Housing, Regional Development and the Environment) and disposers, the technical aspects have been considered, as well as environmental and ecological interests of the various options and a synthesis between them. KEMA has also performed the evaluation of the Dutch cable covenant. Several aspects of pyrolysis, incineration with energy recovery, (co-)firing value, ashes etc. and all kinds of release and separation techniques have been evaluated on the basis of large-scale tests with containers (5-10 tons).

OPTICARE and L-FIRE: optical cable recycling
Demand for optical fiber cable is continuously increasing due to the global expansion of telecommunication networks and replacement of existing networks by others of superior quality and data flow capacity. This development implies a growing amount of cable waste in both the present and the future. Unlike for power cables, there is as yet no economically justifiable recycling system available for optical fiber cables. However, the waste material of these cables could be the source of several types of useful materials for a wide range of products.