EDITORIAL
3recyclinginternational.com | May/June | 2023
I could have written here how this
magazine has managed to survive 25
years of hard work but I’m not so sure
how interested you would be. Besides,
I think we’ve already said plenty about
our 25th anniversary and how happy
we all are to have reached the mile-
stone. What’s more, most of this issue
is dedicated to our birthday party.
Actually, it’s not just our party because,
above all, we are celebrating the indus-
try and the hugely dedicated people
working in it.
So allow me to shine a light on a very
special person: Evgenia Gordeeva from
Ukraine, who was number two in
Recycling International’s latest Top
100. Until 24 February 2022, Evgenia
led a happy life in Kherson, where she
worked as a senior trader for alumini-
um recycler Mekhanicheskiy Zavod
(MZ). Then Russia invaded Ukraine, and
Kherson was among the first cities to
be besieged. MZ was forced to close
its facility – no scrap coming in, no
ingots going out.
While the city was under attack,
Evgenia and her son Kyrylo took refuge
in the basement of a Kherson hotel
where they stayed for a week or so.
‘You cannot imagine what we’re going
through; it’s worse than the worst war
movies,’ she told Recycling
International by phone during that
week in the shelter.
The situation in Kherson worsened so
she decided to leave. On the run, and
under increased shelling, it took her
two days by car criss-crossing southern
Ukraine to reach the border with
Moldova. Via Romania and Hungary,
she finally arrived at a business partner
in Slovakia.
Fourteen months on, Evgenia
Gordeeva now lives with Kyrylo in the
UK. She works for EMR and, in the cir-
cumstances, is doing relatively well.
Recycling International headed to
London and met up with this brave
woman. ‘Physically I’m in the UK but
my head is in Ukraine,’ she says. Read
her story on pages 50-53.
And let’s raise a glass to Evgenia, to
you, and… alright, to your magazine.
Martijn Reintjes
Chief Editor, Recycling International
Recycling International
Informaticaweg 3
7007 CP Doetinchem
The Netherlands
Brave woman
Editorial
+31 (0) 88 29 44 800
[email protected]
[email protected]
Advertisements
+31 (0) 88 29 44 739
+31 (0) 6 556 899 47
[email protected]
03_editorial.indd 3 04-05-2023 08:24
