Page 31 from: Recycling International November/December issue 2024

31recyclinginternational.com | November/December | 2024

Chandru Wadhwani (South Africa)
Wadhwani leads operations for the South African plastics recy-
cler Extrupet. His team opened a EUR 15 million facility in

Cape Town in November, which adds 15 000 tonnes to the recycler’s 30
000 tonnes annual capacity. Extrupet targets mostly PET collected across
the country. The material is recycled into a food-grade rPET called
PhoenixPET, which Wadhwani says is being used by leading producers
such as Coca-Cola. ‘That we now have a seat at the table to influence
future packaging decisions speaks volumes to what Extrupet has
achieved since its launch in 2000. Kudos to the brand owners who have
walked the walk. I’d like to challenge those that are yet to do so.’
Speaking about the smaller, more regional brands in Africa, he observes:
‘Regrettably there remain a few “free riders” who are yet to meet their
extended producer responsibility obligations.’
*Turn to the interview on page 8 to read more of Wadhwani’s insights.

Kurt Kyck (Ireland)
Kyck has had a long career in recycling. After working as a
metal trader in Germany in the 1960s and 70s, he moved to

Ireland where he established KMK Metals. The company collects 80% of
Ireland’s e-scrap and is a national sorting centre for waste consumer
and ELV batteries. It handles some 45 000 tonnes of materials per year
serving 2 500 sites across the country.
In January 2024 Kyck received the IERC Honorary Award, which is pre-
sented each year to inspirational figures from the recycling sector. He
says it was brilliant to be recognised.
‘WEEE recycling is my passion, it’s not
just my work. It’s extremely necessary
that the resources in the products we
consume every day are recovered and,
most definitely, recovered in Europe.
We’ve got excellent smelters, plastics
recyclers and guys like me who go out
and collect stuff in all kinds of adverse
challenges. And yet, we still do it and
we bring about the aspirations of the
law makers in Brussels.’

Kubilay Karul (USA)
Fifteen years ago, Karul moved from Turkey to the US to
chase his American Dream. He succeeded, thanks to hard

work and people who believed in him. One of them was George Adams
of SA Recycling. He offered him a job and one thing led to another.
Long story short: Karul is now general manager, Greater Los Angeles,
for SA. He’s responsible for 20 or so yards and facilities and lives his
dream with his wife and children.

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Chris Sheppard (UK)
Sheppard leads European Metal Recycling
(EMR) from its Warrington HQ. During the

last two decades as ceo, he has seen the company
expand to more than 120 sites worldwide, including
more than 60 facilities in the UK and 54 in the US. A
pilot wind turbine processing centre in Glasgow,
Scotland is part of the Re-Rewind R&D project, which is
largely funded by the UK Government. Sheppard is con-
fident this site is integral to establishing a circular sup-
ply chain for rare earth magnets used in wind turbines.
He expects the first ‘big wave’ of decommissioned tur-
bines to hit the market in 2027. Sheppard is also excited

about a new strategic
partnership with
Australian firm
Renewable Metals.
Together, they want to
tackle lithium-ion bat-
teries using an innova-
tive shredding and
refining technology. A
dedicated recycling
plant in Birmingham is
projected to open in
the first half of 2025.

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Murat Özdemir (Turkey)
In rough market conditions, Turkey’s PET
recycler Başatli tries to keep its head above

water. ‘These are really uncertain and challenging times
for our industry, it is very difficult,’ says md Özdemir. If
someone asked him if it was wise to invest in plastics
recycling, his answer would be: ‘No. Put your money
into something else.’
Basatli has been talking to end users and big brands like
Coca-Cola, Nestle and Alpla. As long as virgin plastic is
cheaper, he says, they will keep using it instead of rPET.
‘For a recycler, it’s unacceptable and very frustrating to
see parts of our production standing still.’
Ever the optimist, Özdemir sees light at the end of the
tunnel because the Turkish government is actively pro-
moting recycling. ‘We’re kind of following the EU route
which means there will be more r+e-cycling rather than
less. What’s more, OEMs and big brands like Coca Cola
have committed to use 50% rPET in their packaging by
2030 which can only further boost our business and vol-
umes.’

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Yongliang Wang (China)
Wang is company board member at Chinese electronics recy-
cling platform ATRenew. With 2 000 outlets, ATRenew claims a

leading position in China’s second-hand electronics market. The company
refurbishes more than 100 000 devices per year – mostly smartphones –
with Wang expecting ‘fast growing numbers’ in the years to come. Once
repaired and upgraded, these devices find their way
to distribution channels such as PJT and retail plat-
form Paipai.
The introduction of automatic recycling kiosks exem-
plifies ATRenew’s innovative approach to sustainabil-
ity. These unmanned vending machines streamline
the recycling process for pre-owned phones.
The multi-billion Euro enterprise also has the ambi-
tion to become big in Japan, India, South America
and Europe.

Rose Mock (USA)
Mock is the co-owner of ferrous and non-ferrous recycling firm
Allied Scrap Processors, based in Lakeland, Florida. ‘I love fight-

ing for the industry.’ This includes helping draft a bill to curb metal theft -in
2009 and lobb/*ying legislators to keep recycling at
the top of their minds. She says 2023 was an ‘alright’
year and 2024 has been ‘decent’. But expanding
operations is not on the cards. ‘It doesn’t make sense
since we’ve done that in previous years. I’m happy
where we are. We’ve found the sweet spot.’ Looking
ahead, Mock believes the industry will be doing OK.
‘Of course, recycling will always be impacted by world
events. In a sense, we mirror what’s happening like a
heartbeat. If there are disruptions, we are the first to
notice them and the last to recover.’

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