Plastic recycling machine cost is decided one machine at a time. A shredder, a washing line and a pelletizer are priced by completely different things, and a quotation that lumps them into a single figure hides exactly the detail you need to compare it against anyone else’s. This page goes machine by machine, then gives you the scope-of-supply lines that make two quotations comparable at all.
Where the Three Cost Questions Are Answered
Three different questions hide inside “how much does it cost”, and mixing them is why buyers compare numbers that were never the same kind of number.
| The question | Answered on |
|---|---|
| What does a whole plant cost to build, layer by layer, and what will it consume per tonne once it runs | What adds up in plastic recycling plant cost |
| Which variables move the price of a complete line before anyone quotes anything | What a plastic recycling line is made of |
| What sets the price of this one machine, and whether the quotation in front of you includes it | This page |
We do not publish a price list, and the reason is set out on the line page rather than repeated here. What this page gives you instead is the parameter on each machine that actually moves the number, so you can read any quotation with it, including one that is not ours.
What Moves the Price of Each Machine
Every figure below is the span across our own range. Where a machine sits inside that span is what your material and throughput decide, and that is the whole of the pricing conversation.
Shredders
Two numbers set the price: rotor diameter and installed motor power. A twin-shaft machine runs from roughly ⌀300 mm rotor and 15 kW × 2 at the bottom of the range to ⌀550 mm and 75 kW × 2 at the top, covering 400 to 4,000 kg/h. Single-shaft machines add a hydraulic pusher, a separate 2.2 to 5.5 kW drive that is a line item in its own right.
Knife steel is where the counter-intuitive line sits. Moving from 9CrSi to D2 or tungsten carbide raises the quotation and lowers cost per tonne, because regrind intervals stretch. It is the one item on a shredder quotation where the more expensive option is usually the cheaper one. Single versus twin shaft changes what the machine can swallow, not how good it is — choosing by tier instead of by material is how people buy the wrong one. Plastic shredder machine covers the configurations.
Crushers and Granulators
Chamber size and motor power carry the price here, spanning 500 × 780 mm and 37 kW up to 800 × 1,180 mm and 132 kW. Knife rows follow the material rather than the price tier. Ask for the screen aperture in writing, because it sets your output particle size and it is the item most often left off a quotation. Screens are consumables, not fittings: ask how many are included and how often they are changed. Plastic crusher and grinder lists the range.
Washing Lines
A washing line is priced by how many tanks your material needs, not by throughput alone. Pre-wash, friction, hot wash at 85 to 95 °C with 1 to 3% caustic, sink-float and rinse are separate stages, and clean factory scrap simply does not need all of them.
The other two drivers are the stainless grade on every wetted part and whether water is recirculated. A separation tank alone runs 5 to 11 m long with 3 mm stainless on the wetted surfaces. What your material costs shows up in installed power: a rigid line spans 100 to 250 kW, a soft film line of lower throughput spans 110 to 600 kW. Plastic recycling washing line shows the configurations, and the PET bottle washing line is the fully built-out case at 150 to 500 kW.
Dewatering and Drying
Centrifugal dryers are priced on rotor diameter and motor, running Φ450 to Φ850 and 5.5 kW to 110 kW. The selection rule matters more than the price: size for the wettest material you will ever run, not the average. A dryer chosen on the annual mean becomes the bottleneck in the rainy season, and by then the line around it is already built.
A squeezer is a different machine, not a bigger dryer: a Φ250 to Φ380 mm screw and 75 to 250 kW pressing and part-melting film before pelletizing. Film lines usually need both, rigid lines usually do not. Centrifugal dryer and plastic squeezer sit in the auxiliary range.
Pelletizers
Screw diameter drives the price, from around ⌀85 to ⌀200 mm across the range, together with whether the machine is single or two-stage, and how melt filtration is handled. A manual screen changer, a hydraulic one and a continuous laser filter are three different prices and three different amounts of downtime per shift.
The clearest number on this page is the film penalty. At the same output, a film pelletizer with a compactor in front of it carries roughly 20 to 30% more installed power than a rigid-material machine, 205 kW against 175 kW at the bottom of each range. That difference is the compaction stage, and it is what dirty, low-bulk-density film costs you in equipment terms. The compactor itself spans 300 to 1,500 litres. Plastic pelletizing machine covers both routes.
What a Quotation Does and Does Not Cover
Two quotations for the same capacity are not comparable until both answer the same eight questions. Send this list to every supplier you are talking to and ask for a line-by-line reply.
- Conveyors, platforms and hoppers, in or out
- Control cabinet: full PLC with interlocks, or a contactor group
- Named brands for motors and electrical components
- Spare knives and screens, and how many sets
- Water treatment and recirculation, in or out
- Packing method and the number of containers
- The trade term the price is quoted on
- Installation, commissioning and training, and whether travel is included
Match the scope first, then the price. A quotation that is cheaper on every line is usually not cheaper. It is a different specification wearing the same capacity label.
Buying One Machine Versus Buying the Line
A single machine going into an existing line has to match three things at its boundaries: the feed rate ahead of it, the particle size it must deliver, and the moisture the next stage can accept. Miss any one and you buy twice. That is the most expensive mistake available in this category, and it is not visible on any quotation.
Buying the line together costs more up front and less in total: one electrical design, one commissioning trip, one training session. Phasing is a legitimate choice, but leave headroom in the first phase — cabinet capacity, floor space, water and power — or phase two starts by rebuilding phase one. Which machines a line actually needs is the place to work out the sequence, and where recycled flake and pellets are sold decides whether you need the extrusion stage at all.
What the Price Still Covers After Delivery
Three commitments sit behind the number, and they are worth reading as part of the price rather than as terms. You or your representative are invited to the plant to witness the machine running before it ships. The equipment carries a twelve month warranty with wear parts excluded, and technical support continues for the life of the line. Once the warranty ends, knives, screens and bearings are supplied at cost price.
That last one is a cost item, not a courtesy. Knives, screens and bearings over five years add up to real money, and the gap between buying them at cost and buying them at market can exceed whatever you negotiated off the original price. How each machine is tested before shipment covers what witnessing actually involves.
The Four Things That Decide Your Quotation
For a figure that means something, four answers do most of the work: what the material is and how contaminated it arrives, the throughput you need, whether you are selling flake or pellets, and your voltage, frequency and available floor area.
The full list of what to send, and what each item changes about the machine, is on the contact page. Tell us what you recycle and the reply comes back as a configuration list with installed power, footprint and manpower rather than a number with no specification attached.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which machine in a recycling line costs the most?
Taken as a block, the washing section usually carries the largest share, because it is several machines rather than one. Taken as a single machine, the extrusion and pelletizing stage is normally the most expensive item on the quotation. Which one dominates your project depends on whether you stop at flake.
Does a bigger motor mean a better machine?
No. Installed power is a ceiling, not a quality rating, and a running line typically draws well below its nameplate because the motors are not all fully loaded at once. What matters is whether the rotor, the screw and the screen suit your material. An oversized motor on the wrong rotor still produces the wrong output.
Is a quotation EXW, FOB or CIF, and what changes between them?
The trade term decides where the seller’s responsibility stops. EXW ends at the factory gate, FOB at the port of loading, CIF at the destination port with freight and insurance included. Two quotations on different terms are not comparable, so establish the term before you compare the figures.
Is a second-hand plastic recycling machine worth considering?
It can be, and the trade-off is specific. What you save is the initial outlay. What you take on is wear you cannot see on the rotor, screw and bearings, plus the question of who supplies parts. If the original builder is reachable and the wear parts are still made, the case is much stronger.
Why do two suppliers quote different capacities for what looks like the same machine?
Because stated capacity depends on the bulk density and contamination of the material it was measured on. The same shredder rated on PET bottle flake and on baled agricultural film will show two different numbers, and neither is wrong. Always ask which material a capacity figure refers to.
