Herbold Meckesheim GmbH

What Herbold Meckesheim GmbH does

Herbold Meckesheim GmbH is a German manufacturer of specialized machinery and turnkey plant systems for plastic recycling, founded in 1984 and headquartered in Meckesheim, Germany. The company designs and builds equipment across the entire mechanical recycling value chain: pre-shredding (shredders, guillotines), size reduction (granulators, hammer mills, the proprietary SB-series forced-feeding granulator), fine grinding (SMF mills, PU pulverizers), washing and separation (modular washing lines with hot wash, hydrocyclone separation, label removal), drying (centrifugal and hot air dryers), and agglomeration (HV Plastcompactor). Its core technologies include patent-pending label removal for PET pre-treatment and forced-feeding granulators that deliver up to 50% energy savings and 2-3x throughput compared with gravity-fed machines.

Herbold sells principally to industrial plastic recyclers, plastic manufacturers with production scrap, and film processors via direct enterprise field sales. The product offering spans individual machines, modular components for retrofitting existing plants, complete bottle-to-bottle turnkey plants, and a portfolio of used/remanufactured equipment. Revenue mechanics are dominated by capital hardware sales with recurring support from spare parts, wear components, and service contracts tied to the installed base. Distribution is global across Germany, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, supported by a wholly-owned US subsidiary (Herbold USA) and presence at major industry trade shows (K Show, Fakuma, Chinaplas, PlastIndia). The company hosts the proprietary Recycling Days² conference at its newly opened Recycling Innovation Center in Weingarten, drawing more than 180 participants from 25 nations.

The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coperion GmbH, itself owned by Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE: HI), an industrial conglomerate. Herbold operates as a flagship brand alongside Coperion K-Tron and Colormax, jointly exhibiting at trade shows and providing end-to-end recycling and extrusion line solutions from a single source. Pricing is opaque (custom quotes for capital equipment), and revenue is not publicly disclosed. Recent operational signals include new PET washing line deliveries to recyclers in India (Magpet Polymers) and Türkiye (Doğa PET), the first installation in Kazakhstan (Vtorma Ecology), and continued expansion of the product range into niche applications such as large-diameter pipe shredding and bale processing.

Name

Herbold Meckesheim GmbH

Legal name

Herbold Meckesheim GmbH

Website

https://herbold.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Herbold Meckesheim GmbH is a German manufacturer of machinery and turnkey plants for plastic recycling, specializing in size reduction, washing, separation, drying, and agglomeration. It serves industrial recyclers, plastic manufacturers, and film processors globally, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coperion GmbH under Hillenbrand.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Plastic Recycling Machinery

NAICS

Other General Purpose Machinery Manufacturing (3339)

SIC

Special Industry Machinery (No Metalworking Machinery) (3550)

akta.pro primary industry

Recycling Equipment & Turnkey Reprocessing Systems (Extruders, Wash Lines) (IMANAMAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Plastic Recycling Equipment & Technology Providers (Sorting, Washing, Extrusion) (EUAIAKAM), Industrial Waste Handling & Compaction Equipment (Balers, Compactors) (IMAHALAI)

Keywords

• Plastic recycling machinery
• Size reduction equipment
• PET washing lines
• Agglomeration systems
• Turnkey recycling plants

Headquarters

HQ city

Meckesheim

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Recycling Machinery Sales: Sale of plastic recycling machines including shredders, granulators, hammermills, washers, separators, dryers, agglomerators, and compactors. Complex capital equipment sales with long sales cycles.
2. Turnkey Recycling Plant Systems: Complete bottle-to-bottle recycling plant solutions combining multiple machine types into integrated systems for industrial customers.
3. Spare Parts and Wear Equipment: Replacement parts, wear components, and accessories for existing recycling equipment. Ongoing revenue from installed base.
4. Used/Remanufactured Machines: Sale of refurbished and remanufactured second-hand recycling machines providing flexible investment options for customers.
5. Service and Repairs: Technical service, troubleshooting, and repair services including expanded service fleet for quick response.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Herbold Meckesheim GmbH manufactures and sells industrial machinery and complete turnkey plant systems for plastic recycling, covering the full process chain of size reduction (shredding, granulating, fine grinding, pulverizing), washing, separation, drying, and agglomeration of plastic waste. The company sells individual machines, modular washing lines (up to 16,000 tons/year), and bottle-to-bottle recycling plant solutions directly to industrial recyclers and plastics manufacturers globally.

Product overview

Herbold Meckesheim is a specialist for machinery and equipment for plastic recycling, operating as a brand of Coperion. The product portfolio consists of a comprehensive modular system of individual machines and complete plant solutions covering the entire plastic recycling process chain: pre-crushing (Shredder, Guillotines, Granulator HGM), secondary shredding (Schneidmühlen/Granulators, Hammermühlen/Hammer mills), fine grinding (Feinschneidmühle SMF, Pulverisierer PU), washing/separation/drying (Waschanlagen, Einzelkomponenten, Zentrifugaltrockner, Warmlufttrockner), agglomeration (Plastkompaktor HV), and peripheral devices. The company also offers second-hand machines (Gebrauchtmaschinen) and specialized equipment like the ZSR Circular Shredder for large pipes and Debaler BA for bale processing. Individual components can be supplied for existing plants or as complete turnkey Bottle-to-Bottle recycling plants.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shredders Pre-shredding machines for initial size reduction of plastic materials in recycling operations. Includes single-shaft shredders and circular shredders (ZSR series) for large-diameter pipes up to 2000mm+. Used by industrial plastic recyclers.
• Guillotines Cutting machines for pre-shredding thick-walled plastic materials and large components in plastic recycling operations. Used by industrial recyclers processing heavy scrap.
• Granulator HGM Granulator for size reduction of plastic materials in recycling operations. Used by industrial plastic recyclers and manufacturers.
• Schneidmühlen (Cutting Mills/Granulators) Cutting mills and granulators for secondary shredding of plastic materials. The SB series features proprietary forced feeding device (SML models) achieving 30-50% higher throughput and up to 50% energy savings. Used by industrial recyclers.
• Hammermühlen (Hammer Mills) Hammer mills for impact-based size reduction of plastic materials in recycling operations. Used by industrial plastic recyclers.
• Feinschneidmühle SMF (Fine Cutting Mill) Fine cutting mill for micronization and fine grinding of plastics to achieve small particle sizes. Used in plastics recycling applications.
• Pulverisierer PU (Pulverizer) Pulverizer for fine grinding of plastics into powder form, suitable for rotational molding and fluidized bed coating applications. Used by plastics manufacturers and recyclers.
• Waschanlagen (Washing Plants/Lines) Complete modular washing lines for plastic waste processing including pre-wash units, hot washing with ultrafiltration, hydrocyclone separation, and drying. Capacities range from 8,000 to 16,000 tons/year input per line. Used for PET bottle recycling and bottle-to-bottle applications.
• Plastkompaktor HV (Plastic Compactor) Plastic compactor for agglomeration that transforms film waste into agglomerate with high bulk density and excellent flow properties. Throughput ranges from 100-1,400 kg/h. Particularly effective for printed or metallized films and PET crystallization.
• Zentrifugaltrockner & Warmlufttrockner (Centrifugal & Hot Air Dryers) Mechanical centrifugal dryers and hot air dryers for achieving extrusion-ready residual moisture of 2% or 1%. Used for drying all types of flakes, bottle materials, rigid plastics, films, fibers, tapes, and foam.
• HERBOLD Debaler BA 63-130-2 Debaler for breaking up compressed bales and briquettes in plastic recycling operations. Two drive variants: up to 2 t/h (9.2 + 15 kW) for normal compressed bales and up to 5 t/h (2 x 15 kW) for highly-compressed bales. Specially designed to avoid breaking off PET bottle tops.
• ZSR Series Circular Shredder Circular shredder specifically designed for shredding large-diameter reject pipes over 2000mm with wall thicknesses over 100mm. Features horizontal feed trough with inclined disk rotor achieving 1.5 to 2.5 tons/hour throughput with high bulk density output.
• Einzelkomponenten (Individual Washing Components) Individual washing components for existing plastic recycling plants including wet shredders, washing mills, separation tanks, hydrocyclone stages, label removers, dry washing units, and gravity sorters.
• Gebrauchtmaschinen (Second-hand Machines) Refurbished and remanufactured second-hand recycling machines including plastcompactors, fine mills, hammer mills, granulators, and shredders available from stock. Provides flexible investment alternatives for customers.
• Peripherie (Peripheral Devices) Peripheral equipment and accessories for plastic recycling systems to support complete plant integration.
• Service, Repairs, and Spare Parts Technical service, troubleshooting, repair services, replacement parts, wear components, and accessories for existing recycling equipment. Includes expanded service fleet for quick response. Ongoing revenue from installed base.
• Turnkey Bottle-to-Bottle Recycling Plant Systems Complete bottle-to-bottle recycling plant solutions combining multiple machine types into integrated systems for industrial PET recyclers. Provided as turnkey installations combining size reduction, washing, separation, drying, and agglomeration modules.

Quantifiable outcome

• 50% energy savings with SB series forced feeding granulators
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Coperion GmbHflagshipOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerHerbold Meckesheim is a brand of Coperion. Coperion provides comprehensive technological and engineering expertise in plastics processing and recycling. With brands Herbold Meckesheim, Coperion K-Tron, and Colormax, Coperion offers both individual system components and complete line solutions from a single source. Companies jointly exhibit at trade shows and host recycling conferences.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Direct peers

• EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges.m.b.H. Austrian specialist in plastic recycling machinery (extrusion-based systems, RegrindPro, Vacurema). Directly competes with Herbold in PET bottle-to-bottle and post-consumer recycling lines, serving the same industrial recycler customers.
• Vecoplan AG: German manufacturer of shredders, granulators and processing machinery for plastics, wood and waste. Overlaps with Herbold's pre-shredding, granulator and hammer mill product lines for plastic recyclers.
• Lindner-Recyclingtech GmbH: German-Austrian maker of shredders and turnkey recycling systems for plastics, RDF and commercial waste. Competes head-to-head with Herbold in size reduction and integrated recycling plant projects.
• Starlinger & Co. GmbH: Austrian manufacturer of recycling and extrusion technology for plastics, including PET bottle-to-bottle and PP/PE recycling lines. Closest direct peer in PET washing and food-grade recycling applications.
• Sorema (Previero S.r.l.): Italian supplier of plastic washing, separation and drying lines and complete recycling plants. Competes with Herbold's Waschanlagen and turnkey PET/film washing line offerings, particularly in Southern Europe and emerging markets.
• Zerma Machinery & Recycling Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Manufacturer of granulators, shredders and pulverizers for plastic size reduction. Overlaps with Herbold's Granulator HGM, SB series and PU pulverizer lines in core recycling and production-scrap applications.
• Sesotec GmbH: German manufacturer of sorting and separation equipment for the plastics recycling industry. Overlaps with Herbold's separation/washing components (metal separators, optical sorters) sold as part of recycling line solutions.
• Bollegraaf ApS: Dutch supplier of MRF balers, sorting systems and turnkey recycling plants. Competes with Herbold in materials recovery facility and downstream plastic recycling line integrations, especially for mixed plastic bales.
• Amut S.p.A. Italian manufacturer of plastics processing, recycling and extrusion machinery. Overlaps with Herbold's PET washing, extrusion-related and complete recycling plant offerings, particularly for film and rigid plastic applications.

Broad incumbents

• TOMRA Systems ASA: Norwegian global leader in sensor-based sorting and collection solutions for recycling. Larger incumbent operating across recycling value chain; competes with Herbold indirectly via integrated sorting/washing system offerings to recyclers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@HerboldMeckesheim
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/herbold-meckesheim-gmbh
• Instagraminstagram.com/coperion.global

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Herbold Meckesheim GmbH