Where recycling engineering becomes a competitive advantage
Waste management in Valencia
At Grupo Sabater, we don't just manage waste: we design, develop, and manufacture our own recycling technology. Each material presents unique challenges related to composition, contamination, and processing, requiring specific technical solutions. While other waste management companies acquire standard machinery, we adapt and patent exclusive processes that maximize the recovery of waste that was historically considered non-recyclable.
With over 35 years of experience transforming technical challenges into business opportunities, we have consolidated a deep and diverse knowledge of industrial recycling that radically differentiates us from the competition. Our capacity to process plastics (HDPE, LDPE, PP, PET, polyal), wood, cardboard, metals, and alternative fuels has allowed us to develop an ecosystem of proprietary technologies that adapt to each type of waste.
Welcome to the technological heart of the circular economy.
Our philosophy: adaptive, non-standard technology
Each piece of waste tells a different story
In the world of industrial recycling, there are no universal solutions. Chemical composition, contamination levels, particle size, moisture content, the presence of multilayers, and physical properties vary radically between waste streams, even within the same polymer family.
This reality has led us to develop an adaptive technology philosophy: we thoroughly analyze each waste stream in our R&D laboratory, identify critical processing parameters, and design specific processes that optimize material recovery while maintaining the technical properties required by the industry.
Our technological advantage is based on:
- In-house R&D laboratory: A multidisciplinary team of engineers, polymer specialists, and process technicians research, develop, and validate exclusive formulations
- In-house design and manufacturing capabilities: We adapt existing machinery and design our own equipment when the market does not offer solutions for complex waste
- Exclusive patented processes: Legal protection of our technological innovations guarantees a sustainable competitive advantage
- Artificial intelligence and automation: Sorting systems using machine vision, optical sensors, and machine learning algorithms enable precise separation in mixed flows
- Scalability from pilot to industrial: Ability to validate processes on a small scale before significant industrial investments
- Rigorous quality control: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and UNE-EN 15343 certifications guarantee traceability and regulatory compliance
Technologies adapted by waste type
Our technological ecosystem
Plastic recycling
Adapted by polymer and contamination. Plastic recycling is our most advanced technical speciality. We process HDPE, LDPE, PP, PET and complex multilayer compounds using differentiated technologies:
Mechanical recycling base process
- Reception and characterisation: Composition, moisture, contaminant and physical property analysis in laboratory
- Advanced sorting: Artificial intelligence systems with spectral vision that identify polymers by chemical signature, separating PE, PP, PET, PS with >98%% precision
- Controlled shredding: Adaptive mills that adjust granulometry according to final application
- Optimised mechanical washing: Patented process combining physical washing, flotation and magnetic separation
- Drying and dehumidification: Centrifugal and thermal systems ensuring moisture <0.5%% for optimal extrusion
- Extrusion and compounding: Extrusion lines enabling customised formulations with additives, fillers and pigments to client specifications
- Quality control: MFI (melt flow index), mechanical strength, density and recycled content analysis certified to UNE-EN 15343
CDR production
Energy homogenisation. Our Refuse Derived Fuel technology combines:
- Pre-sorting: Removal of non-combustible materials (metals, glass, inerts)
- Homogeneous shredding: Controlled granulometry for continuous kiln feeding
- Optimised drying: Moisture reduction <25%% through efficient thermal processes
- Compaction: Densification that facilitates transport and improves volumetric calorific value
Wood recycling
Adaptable granulometry. Our post-industrial wood processing technology is based on variable speed shredders and multilayer screening systems that produce chips and sawdust with customised granulometries:
- Coarse chip: For industrial biomass boilers with robust feeding
- Medium chip: Energy applications and board manufacturing
- Fine chip: High quality biomass, composting and substrates
- Sawdust (<5mm): Animal bedding, pellet manufacturing, particle boards. Key innovation: Magnetic separation and metal detection systems ensuring absence of ferrous contaminants, critical for energy applications and board manufacturing.
Cardboard and metals sorting
Optical technology. We use latest generation optical sorters with NIR (near infrared) sensors and RGB cameras that identify material composition and separate fractions with >95%% purity: 22
Separation system
- For cardboard: Separation of corrugated, compact, kraft and mixed cardboard, with high density hydraulic presses (500-800 kg bales) that optimise transport and commercialisation
- For aluminium: Foucault magnetic separation systems that eject aluminium from mixed flows, followed by optical sorting achieving >95%% concentrations in compacted bales
Emblematic technological case: ASTRAL, pioneers in the mechanical recycling of polyal
The future of recycling is digital
In 2025, Grupo Sabater has taken a qualitative leap by integrating artificial intelligence into its classification and optimisation processes:
AI classification system
Multi-camera machine vision: Identifies polymers, colors, and contaminants with >95% accuracy.
Machine learning: Algorithms that continuously improve separation based on millions of processed data points.
Error reduction: 40% decrease in rejections due to cross-contamination.
Operating benefits
Maximization of recovered recyclable materials (+15% vs. manual processes)
Reduction of operating costs (less dependence on skilled labor)
Improved quality of recycled material (greater purity = greater industrial applications)
Energy optimization (automatic parameter adjustment)
Why our knowledge is unique
Grupo Sabater Tech differentiation
R&D Collaborations: let's build the future together
Grupo Sabater maintains active collaborations with:
Universities and technology centres: Funded R&D&i projects (MoeBIOS for bioplastics recycling, developments with ITENE)
Public administrations: Circular economy projects, municipal waste management, EU recycling targets
35 years turning knowledge into technology. Technology into solutions. Solutions into circular economy.
Patents that transform impossible waste into raw materials of the future.
Start your project today
Do you have a waste stream that no one else wants to manage? Do you need impeccable environmental documentation? Are you looking for a partner who understands the complexity of your industry?
At Grupo Sabater, we have been turning challenges into opportunities for over four decades. What others see as an unsolvable problem is, for us, just the starting point. Tell us about your situation.
