45recyclinginternational.com | November/December | 2024
Danny Pormes (The Netherlands)
Former marine Pormes runs a revolutionary shoe recycling facili-
ty in the north of the Netherlands. The plant can pulverise 2 500
used sneakers per hour into raw materials for playground equipment and
sports fields – and new shoes. The recently launched Neocurve sneaker,
made from Asics’ discarded sports shoes, are recycled directly from
Pormes’ bins.
The founder of FastFeetGrinded has a mission to make the shoe industry
circular. ‘Seventy million shoes are produced worldwide every day, of which
less than 5% are ultimately recycled. We really need to do something about
this.’ Pormes wants to bring the concept to other countries such as
Indonesia and Australia.
Mariska Boer (The Netherlands)
Mariska Boer is a Dutch textiles expert at
Boer Group, based in Dordrecht, the
Netherlands. The company treats around 400 tonnes of
textiles per day. She also serves as the chair of the
nationwide textiles collection and sorting organisation
VHT. Boer is a well-known face in the recycling industry
due to appearances at international conferences and
trade shows, often on behalf of EuRIC, for which she
became textiles division president in 2019. Boer insists
the system in the Netherlands and many other European
countries ‘has to change drastically and quickly’ if the
industry has any chance of maintaining the infrastructure
it has painstakingly created.
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Robin Ingenthron (USA)
Ingenthron founded Fair Trade
Recycling to boost e-scrap recycling
practices in developing countries such as
Cameroon and Mexico. He says the circular
economy is a ‘truly inclusive society’, celebrating
global best practices. Good Point Recycling cur-
rently employs 40 people and has a turnover of
around US$ 3 million (EUR 2.8 million) per year.
‘My business has survived so long by anticipating
new economies.’ A successful line has been reus-
ing parts from LED and LCD flat screen displays.
Ingenthron, who recently received an award for
his recycling leadership from the Northeast
Recycling Council, believes solar panels are the
next big growth market for recyclers. He also
inspired the construction of the Good Point
Recycling Hotel, opening 2025, in Tamale,
Ghana.
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