What is a bale opener?

Bale openers are essential to plastic recycling and material processing. The recycled material is usually hard-pressed into bales for easy storage during the recycling process.

In order to use the material in re-manufacturing new products, the material has to be de-baled into individual units. This is where bale openers come in.

PET(Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles are the most common recycled materials. Bale openers are designed to break down the bales and loosen them with the least damage to the bottles themselves.

A bale opener usually consists of slow-turning screws that loosen the PET bottle bales entirely and release the bottles one by one without damaging them.

After the bottles have been loosened and freed from the bale, sorting them in terms of material and color becomes easier. The remaining process relies heavily on this stage.

Where to buy the bale opener?

You can buy bale openers directly from the manufacturers. The prices will range based on the manufacturer and the size of the bale opener.

Additional features such as sorting also account for price differences. There are many suppliers as well who sell bale openers through online marketplaces.

What can it be used for?

Bale openers are used in the recycling industry to open hard-pressed bales to obtain raw materials for re-manufacturing. Aside from loosening the material, bale openers sort it by color and material in order to optimize production.

Effective bale openers produce an even flow of output. The initial stage of opening the bales and sorting the material is highly essential for the subsequent processes in manufacturing.

What kind of bales exist?


The most common types of bales include:


  • RDF/SDF bales
  • Recovered paper/cardboard bales
  • PET/Plastic bales
  • Straw bales

What can the machine do?

The bale opener is equipped to open bales of different kinds of material.

This machine usually consists of a conveyor belt to transport the bales to the drum. Once the bales reach the drum, there are teeth fitted to loosen the bales.

A bale opener is a slow-turning machine because the aim is to loosen the bales without damaging the material. Once the material has been loosened, it is transported for further processing.

Some bale openers have features that allow for sorting the material by color and type of material.


Who buys the machine?

The bale opener is used in major recycling plants.

Manufacturing companies that re-purpose their material could also use the services of a bale opener.