Collisions permanently occur during the processing of particulate solids. With a large inelasticity parameter, a significant content of the kinetic energy of the impact can be dissipated into elastic flexural waves. The coefficient of restitution characterizes the energy dissipation or more precisely the damping of the impact and is an essential parameter for the numerical simulation of particulate systems. A novel analytical approach to solve the otherwise mathematically strenuous Zener model for elastic sphere impacts on large, thin plates has been proposed. Experimental investigations using elasticplastic granules and acryl glass plates confirm that elastic waves in terms of flexural waves can have a significant influence not only for elastic materials such as steel or glass.