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dence and I believe the company will
survive this difficult test without dras-
tic moves.’
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR
THE BUSINESS TO BE BACK AT
PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS?
‘Apart from coronavirus precaution
measures, Elektrorecykling is already
more or less back to a normal operat-
ing situation. But what’s normal? The
administration is fully operational and
our logistics and production are at
80% capacity. Business is still limited
due to the fact that borders have not
yet completely opened. So we are on
our way back up but there is certainly
a long way to go. Mind you, during
the period of reduced production and
sales, our income was cut by almost
50%. In other words, although we can
now say we have returned to a ‘nor-
mal’ level, we have a lot to catch up.’
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED
FROM THE CRISIS?
‘Stable trends in the economy can col-
lapse overnight under the influence of
events theoretically unrelated to the
industry, originating somewhere on
the other side of the hemisphere. This
has certainly strengthened our vigi-
lance and caution. I see it as a major
test of how to cope with unexpected
situations.’
WHAT DO YOU SEE FOR THE
FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS?
‘I have seen fellow recyclers in Poland
suffer badly from the economic impact
of Covid-19. Unfortunately, some of
them were forced to permanently
close their businesses. At the same
time, I am very optimistic about the
future. We are convinced of the envi-
ronmental and economic power of the
circular economy approach. There
may be difficulties now but the future
of our company is very promising.’
TAKE US BACK TO LATE
FEBRUARY/EARLY MARCH.
Bartosz Kubicki: ‘As soon as the scale
of the pandemic became clear, it was
obvious to me that the consequences
for national and global economies
were going to be devastating.
Together with my associates we set up
a plan to protect the company and
our employees.’
WHAT DID YOU DO?
‘First of all, I decided that the compa-
ny would continue operations as long
as I could ensure the safety of my
workforce. Administration employees
were equipped with computers
enabling them to work remotely. We
also introduced flexible working
hours. This is important because nurs-
eries, kindergartens and schools were
closed, forcing parents to stay at
home with their children.
The most sensitive and, at the same
time, the parts of the company most at
risk are of course the production site
and the team of drivers. We purchased
large amounts of personal protective
equipment and disinfectants. We also
implemented procedures for our driv-
ers during off-site transports and
imposed restrictions for shipments
entering our plants. Workers were
given the option of taking holidays.’
WHAT ABOUT SCRAP SUPPLY?
‘More and more companies suspend-
ed operations. Retailers closed their
shops and smaller scrap operators
stopped collecting. As a consequence
we were seeing a decline in the
amount of e-scrap coming in. We also
saw a decrease in scrap demand. To
make things worse, commodity prices
were falling too.’
THE TIMING COULD NOT HAVE
BEEN WORSE: YOU WERE IN
THE MIDDLE OF A MAJOR
INVESTMENT PROGRAMME TO
RAMP UP CAPACITY.
‘That’s right. Over the past two years,
we’ve put a lot of energy and money
into new developments. First, we
expanded the warehouse infrastruc-
ture and built a warehouse dedicated
to refrigerators with a system of pre-
sorting, preparation and delivery of
equipment to the processing hall.
Then we launched a new, high-perfor-
mance processing line for refrigerators
with a dedicated explosion-proof and
fire-fighting system, together with a
material fraction segregation process.
The third element, to which we’ve
devoted a lot of work, is the plastics
cleaning and segregation line. As a
result, we get high quality PS, ABS,
PP, PE and other materials.’
HAS THE PANDEMIC KILLED
YOUR AMBITION AND
INVESTMENT PLANS?
‘No. We soon concluded that after the
first period of economic paralysis
caused by a pandemic, the economy
would at some point pick up again.
We wanted to be prepared for that
moment. After reviewing budgets, the
key investments remained intact. The
company’s strong position allowed us
to limit sales of our stock which, after
a few weeks when prices began to rise
again, turned out to be a good deci-
sion. Another wise move was tempo-
rarily reducing the working time of all
of our employees to cut fixed costs.’
HOW WILL THE CRISIS AFFECT
THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT?
‘For sure, we are facing a difficult time
and low commodity prices do not
really help to make things better. But I
am not extremely pessimistic. The
investments were partly necessary due
to changing legislation. On the other
hand, they were the fruit of many
years of my work, experience and
conclusions. Among other things,
their implementation meant that we
could continue to work. Even at the
height of the pandemic, shipments
still reached us. That gives real confi-
WILL 76 000 TONNES STILL BE A REALISTIC TARGET?
In 2019 Elektrorecykling of Poland processed 66 000 tonnes of e-scrap.
Company owner Bartosz Kubicki had set a goal for this year for 76 000
tonnes. It was not an unrealistic target as the company had recently added
15 000 tonnes capacity and opened a new facility in the Silesia region, in
southern Poland. ‘I hope we will still be able to achieve our goal, despite
the coronavirus crisis,’ says Kubicki.
Elektrorecykling’s main facility is in Sękowo in the west of country. In the city
of Nowy Tomyęl, the company has a second plant that will be modernised
and expanded in the coming years.
Other recent investments to be completed include a copper cable line and
lines to dismantle electric motors, recycle toner and separate non-ferrous
metals.
‘In my mind, I have many more ideas and concepts to boost our operations,
especially in the field of hard-to-handle electronic scrap,’ says Kubicki.
‘Unfortunately, we have had to suspend these plans until the situation is
really back to normal.’
www.elektrorecykling.pl
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