Page 60 from: Recycling International May/June issue 2023
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We’re celebrating too!
Recycling International is the not the only one celebrating a new milestone. Here, we give the floor to
a couple of industry leaders eager to share their exciting journey so far.
Jay Robinovitz: ‘It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and only minutes to ruin one.’
KUUSAKOSKI TURNS 110
They’re not there yet but preparations for Kuusakoski
Recycling’s 110th anniversary in 2024 are already underway. ‘To
mark this milestone we’ll make a nice video in nine languages,
organise a huge party and, of course, eat a delicious cake,’ says
the company’s e-scrap director Tapio Kuusakoski.
There are reasons a-plenty for celebration. In September 2022
the Scandinavian recycling major launched an ambitious, multi-
million-Euro investment programme to strengthen its position
in the recycling industry as a pioneer of the green transition.
Kuusakoski puts its money where its mouth is. Over the past
months, the company has been making ‘scrap’ headlines with a
series of major innovation projects. Most recent: EUR 25 million
being pumped into a new steel recycling plant near Kemi on
the Bothnia Gulf in northern Finland. The company says the
facility will be a carbon-neutral operation. The investment is a
response to growing demand for recycled metals in both
Finland and Sweden and will increase Kuusakoski’s annual recy-
cling capacity by 150 000 tonnes or 25%.
Meanwhile, Kuusakoski is also spending more than EUR 4 mil-
lion on the construction of a new composite shredding and
treatment plant in southern Finland. And an integrated process-
ing plant for feedstock containing aluminium and copper is
being built in Heinola, north of Helsinki. Additionally, the com-
pany will increase the capacity for pre-treatment of metals and
its separation capability, for example with the help of a next-
generation facility specialising in small fractions. The goal is to
significantly increase the amount of clean-end products.
Kuusakoski has set a target of carbon-neutral operations by
2035.
Kuusakoski Group’s turnover in 2021 was EUR 717 million.
A U T H O R S Kirstin Linnenkoper & Martijn Reintjes
ALTER TRADING: 125 YEARS IN BUSINESS
‘I have had an amazing career in the materials recycling
industry – from the East Coast to the West then to mid-
America and around the globe,’ says Alter Trading ceo
Jay Robinovitz with great enthusiasm. ‘It has been fasci-
nating, rewarding and challenging.’
Discussing significant milestones, he believes Alter
Trading celebrating 125 years in scrap is a milestone in
itself. ‘Being a private company, with a team of fantastic
employees, many who have been with the Alter family for
decades, and now a fifth generation of family leadership
at the ready is just fantastic. I’m proud of our team.’
Flipping through the pages of recycling history,
Robinovitz ponders what has changed. ‘We’ve gone from
small mom and pop operations – many still thriving in our
cities – to the growth of large publicly traded recycling
companies. The industry became more and more a man-
ufacturing business.’
He says technology drives Alter Trading’s operations and
he is eager to make great strides in reducing its environ-
mental footprint. ‘We have always invested for the long
term and doing so makes us look forward with excite-
ment for what the next challenge will be.’
In the short term, this means a continued focus on post-
shredder material recovery facilities, new plants, and
investment in existing facilities and equipment. ‘This year
we also plan to continue to expand solar power genera-
tion at as many of our facilities as possible.’
Robinovitz describes integrity as being the foundation of
the company’s overall goals. ‘We work hard to maintain a
high level of customer and supplier contact, knowing
that we want to do the right thing. It takes a lifetime to
build a reputation and only minutes to ruin one.’
While he acknowledges no one has a crystal ball, one
thing that he is sure of is that the industry will see more
automation, use of robotics, and an ever more granular
process to recover metals that may currently be lost.
‘Plastics will have its day as well and when the economics
become more favourable I think it will open up an entire-
ly new set of opportunities.’
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