Optical Sorting Sl

What Optical Sorting Sl does

Optical Sorting GmbH is a privately held German industrial service company founded in 2000 that provides optical sorting and purification of polymer granules and plastic materials for plastics manufacturers. The company combines four processing technologies — optoelectronic classification via high-resolution line camera, conical dust separation using counter-current ionized air, inductive metal separation from 0.35mm, and double-deck screening — to remove optical defects, cross-contamination, dust, metallic particles, and oversized or undersized granules, claiming achievable purity of 0.02 ppm. Services are delivered either on customer sites via a Mobile Sorting Unit or at the company's own facilities in Wachtendonk (HQ), Köln (Germany), and Tarragona (Spain), with European reach extended to Milano through a long-standing logistics partnership with Karl Schmidt Spedition GmbH & Co. KG.

The business operates on a B2B professional-services model with quote-based pricing tied to customer specifications and material volumes, multi-year contractual cadence, and 30-day invoice terms. Customer acquisition relies on direct enterprise outreach (phone, email, web forms), content marketing via a multilingual German/English/Spanish website and expert articles, and long-term referral relationships built up over more than two decades. The company is founder-led, with Dirk Pritzl as Managing Director, Maurice Wieder as General Manager for Germany, and Carlos Cuevas as Plant Manager for Tarragona; total headcount is 11 employees across three locations. Optical Sorting also holds a DEKRA-certified CO2 balance and offers a customer-facing FileMaker-based CO2 calculator to quantify sustainability outcomes of its sorting processes.

Name

Optical Sorting Sl

Legal name

Optical Sorting GmbH

Website

https://optical-sorting.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Optical Sorting GmbH is a privately held German service company, founded in 2000, that provides optical sorting and purification of polymer granules for plastics manufacturers, operating from Wachtendonk, Köln, and Tarragona via a Mobile Sorting Unit and partner logistics network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Polymer Sorting and Purification Services

NAICS

Materials Recovery Facilities (56292)

akta.pro primary industry

Advanced/Optical Sorting & Quality Control Services (NIR, AI, Robotics) (BPALADAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Post-Consumer Plastics Collection & Sorting (MRF/PRF) (IMANAMAA), Plastics Sorting & Reprocessing (PET, HDPE, Film) (BPALADAE)

Keywords

• Polymer granule sorting
• Optical sorting services
• Plastic material purification
• Polymer demetallisation
• Industrial plastic recycling

Headquarters

HQ city

Wachtendonk

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Optical Sorting Services: Professional sorting and purification services for polymer granules delivered at customer facilities (Mobile Sorting Unit) or at company's own facilities. Services include quality inspections, result reports, and quality certificates
2. Material Processing and Logistics: Transportation and logistics services for polymer materials with optional freight costs charged to customers

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Optical Sorting Sl provides optical sorting and purification services for polymer granules and plastic materials. The service integrates four separation technologies — optoelectronic classification via high-resolution line camera, conical dust removal with ionised air, inductive demetallisation from 0.35 mm, and double-deck screening — to remove optical defects, dust, metal particles, oversized and undersized particles, delivering polymer granules at purity levels up to 0.02 ppm. Services are delivered either at the customer's site via a Mobile Sorting Unit or at the company's own facilities in Germany and Spain.

Product overview

Optical Sorting provides optical sorting services for polymer granules to achieve maximum purity. The company offers a unified service platform combining four core processing technologies: Optoelectronic Classification (high-resolution line camera for visual defect detection and removal via air shots), Dust Removal with Cone Separator (counter-current air system with ionized air for electrostatic reduction), Demetallisation (inductive metal detection from 0.35mm), and Screening Technique (double-deck screens for particle size classification). Services are delivered either at customer facilities or at Optical Sorting's own facilities via their Mobile Sorting Unit. The company has operated since 2000 and maintains a DEKRA-certified CO2 balance with an internal CO2 calculator tool.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Optoelectronic Classification Service (Optoelektronische Klassifizierung) Sorting service using a high-resolution linear camera to detect and eliminate optical defects in polymer granules through air shots, analyzing color and shape to produce impurity-free polymer materials ready for industrial processing. Designed for industrial polymer manufacturers and processors.
• Dust Removal with Conical Separator Service (Entstaubung mit konischem Abscheider) Polymer dedusting service using a conical separator with a counter-current air system combined with ionised air to reduce electrostatic charge, removing dust particles and airborne contaminants from polymer granules. Targeted at industrial polymer processors requiring clean, low-dust materials.
• Demetallisation Service (Entmetallisierung) Polymer purification service using an inductive metal separator to remove the smallest metal particles (non-ferrous and ferrous) from 0.35 mm, including FE-balls, from polymer granules. Aimed at polymer manufacturers whose materials contain metallic contamination that disrupts downstream processing.
• Screening Service (Abschirmtechnik) Polymer screening service using specially developed double-deck screens to remove larger particles (long or double granules) and smaller particles (fines or broken fragments) from polymer materials. Serves polymer manufacturers needing uniform granule size distribution.
• Mobile Sorting Unit (On-Site Service) On-site sorting service in which Optical Sorting brings mobile sorting equipment to the customer's facility to solve polymer separation problems in situ. Targeted at industrial polymer manufacturers and processors preferring on-premises processing.
• Material Transportation and Logistics Service Transportation and logistics service for polymer materials, with optional freight costs charged to customers separately from sorting service fees, delivered through Optical Sorting's own facilities and the Karl Schmidt Spedition partnership covering Köln, Tarragona, and Milano. Aimed at industrial polymer manufacturers needing coordinated collection and delivery of bulk materials.

Quantifiable outcome

• Purity levels up to 0.02 ppm achievable
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Karl Schmidt Spedition GmbH & Co. KGcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term logistics partnership enabling Optical Sorting to offer services at major European branches in Köln (Germany), Tarragona (Spain), and Milano (Italy). This partnership allows the company to provide their polymer sorting services across key European industrial locations.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Veolia Environnement (Recycling & Waste): Veolia is a major environmental services and plastics-recycling operator that runs in-house polymer sorting capacity across Europe. It competes indirectly with Optical Sorting for outsourced sorting work and represents a potential integrator/acquirer of specialized polymer sorting capability.
• Satake Corporation: Satake produces optical sorting equipment historically focused on rice and grain but with growing applications in plastics and recycling. Comparable through its use of camera-based optical sorting for granular material, a core process Optical Sorting also relies on.
• Bühler Group: Bühler is a large industrial technology group whose SORTEX optical sorters address food and materials sorting applications. While its primary focus is food, its optical sorting technology platform competes for the same underlying optical/AI-vision capability market.
• Steinert Elektromagnetbau GmbH: Steinert supplies sensor-based and optical sorting systems for plastics, metals, and recycling streams. It is comparable to Optical Sorting in addressing polymer and recyclables quality issues through induction and vision technologies, with a far broader product portfolio and global reach.
• Sesotec GmbH: Sesotec is a long-established German manufacturer of optical and inductive sorting equipment used in plastics recycling and processing. It is comparable to Optical Sorting as a leading optical sorting technology provider serving the same European polymer and recycling customer base, but operates at a much larger equipment-vendor scale.
• Tomra Sorting (TOMRA): Tomra is a global leader in sensor-based sorting for recycling and food. Its plastics-recycling optical sorters compete directly with the polymer purification capability Optical Sorting provides, but at much greater scale, with owned equipment sales rather than service-only delivery.

Direct peers

• Pellenc ST: Pellenc ST develops optical sorting equipment specifically for waste and recyclables streams, including plastics. It is directly comparable to Optical Sorting in addressing polymer sorting and purification, although it primarily sells equipment rather than providing the sortation as a service.
• REDWAVE (BT-Wolfgang Binder GmbH): REDWAVE supplies optical sorting solutions targeting plastics, paper, and metal recycling streams. It overlaps directly with Optical Sorting on polymer/ plastics optical sorting quality control and serves the same European recyclers and converters.

Emerging players

• MSS, Inc. (Magnetic Separation Systems): MSS designs and manufactures optical and metal-detection sorting equipment for recycling and post-industrial applications. Comparable in serving polymer/ plastics quality needs with similar sensor technologies (optical + metal separation), though equipment-sale-led rather than service-delivery.
• Binder+Co AG: Binder+Co specializes in screening, sorting, and processing technology for raw and recycled materials. It is comparable to Optical Sorting in the screening and optical classification sub-processes used in polymer granule purification, though it is more equipment-focused and serves broader material streams.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

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 Optical Sorting Sl