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interview
recyclinginternational.com
ings. But each time we dusted ourselves off,
learned from our mistakes and moved on.’
And you made it a huge success…
‘MBA has kept well over 250 million
kg of plastics from landfills and oceans
or from going up in smoke – and it’s just
getting started. We have demonstrated
that it works both technically and com-
mercially, and MBA Polymers has become
the world’s largest and most advanced
recycler of plastics from highly-complex
plastics-rich streams like e-waste, auto
shredder residue and mixed rigid plastics
from household waste. It is also one of the
few multinational plastics recyclers, with
plants in China, Austria and the UK.’
Did you have all that in mind when
you started out?
‘I was told by many experts 25 years
ago that plastics would never be recycled
on a large scale because it was far too dif-
ficult and the material was designed to
be “thrown away” and had little value.
We now know that there is no “away”.
The “away” can be very damaging to the
ecosystem – such as when it ends up in
oceans. We also know that plastics are
rather valuable. For example, plastics are
several times more valuable on a weight
basis than steel, which has an extremely
high recycling rate.
Interestingly, the virgin steel compa-
nies said the same about steel recycling
several decades ago – that it would never
rise above “downcycling” like that used in
rebar. Now, the biggest steel companies in
the US are based on mini-mills and recy-
cled steel, and we now consume more
recycled steel in the US than “virgin” steel.
And recycled steel can be found in almost
every steel product on the planet. We are
on the same trajectory and for the same
reasons, I believe, with plastics – an even
more valuable and versatile material.’
You have never revealed the detail
behind the technology in the ‘black
box’ used in your plants. Can you do
that now?
‘People can look at MBA’s patents and
get some idea about some of the technolo-
gies that MBA uses. Over the last 10-plus
years, most of the processes have been
refined and new trade secrets have been
added to optimise various process steps.
Very few businesses can afford to “give
away” their hard-earned secrets.’
What will be the effects on the envi-
ronment and on society if we do not
crack the plastics conundrum?
‘Plastics need to be recycled at much
higher rates (and can be, we’ve proven it)
for economic, resource scarcity and envi-
ronmental reasons. Defence departments
around the world have begun to point out
that economic challenges and wars will
arise from increased resource scarcity as
well as climate pressures and mass migra-
tions due to crop failures, rising seas, etc.
Plastics recycling has significant benefits
towards all of these challenges and the
more recycling we do, the less likely we’ll
see economic, resource and climate crises.’
What’s your opinion of the rapidly-
growing ocean clean-up pro-
grammes popping up around the
globe?
www.eldan-recycling.com
www.redoma.com
Booth T:16-7
Hall 7
RECYCLING-
TECHNIK 2017
Redoma
Thunderhawk
LIVE
cable recycling!
Booth H:1209
Worlds largest manufacturer of cable recycling equipment!
More than 1300 systems, and 8000 single machines installed world wide. 150-10000 kg/h.
RecyclingInternational_185x128mm_170223.indd 1 23-02-2017 14:55:41
