Page 44 from: Recycling International July issue | 2022 + TOP 100!

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A U T H O R S Kirstin Linnenkoper, Martijn Reintjes

Danish Mir
(USA)
These are excit-

ing times for the ceo of
electronics recycler Igneo,
formerly known as Weee
Metallica. As well as
rebranding the business,
they are doubling capacity
in France and rolling out a
network of plants and a
collection of processing
hubs across the US.
The ‘seeds of recycling’, as
Mir calls it, were planted in
one of his earlier jobs,
where he saw a business
opportunity for by prod-
ucts and residues from
smelters and refineries. ‘I
learned that one man’s gar-
bage is another man’s
gold.’
By 2030 at least six Igneo
plants will pop up. That’s
an expansion in France/
Europe and multiple plants
in the US, including
Savannah and a second site
‘probably on the West
Coast.’

Max Craipeau
(Singapore)
Saving and ultimately

recycling the ever-growing stream
of PET bottles heading for the
oceans may seem mission impossi-
ble in Indonesia, the world’s biggest
marine plastics polluter. But
Craipeau and his SEArcular business
initiative intend to prove it can be
done. Frenchman Craipeau, ceo of
plastics recycling and trading firm
Greencore, has been living and
working in Asia for almost two
decades and in 2021, at the peak of
the pandemic, he moved to
Singapore to coordinate
Greencore’s activities. SEArcular
continues to grow across the region,
with strategic partnerships and joint
projects in Cambodia, Vietnam,
Malaysia and Thailand.

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9
Mike Biddle (USA/UK)
The story of Biddle and Evok Innovations
starts at his home – or rather his garage –

in California in 1992. It was there he launched MBA
Polymers which mushroomed into a state-of-the-art
production unit in China with a processing capacity
of 40 000 tonnes per annum (2006), a 50 000
tonnes per year recycling plant in Austria (2007)
and one in the UK (2010). ‘MBA has kept well over
250 000 tonnes of plastics out of landfill or the
oceans – or from going up in smoke.’

Lim Teck Siang
(Singapore)
Lim operates a metals and

wood recycling company, the Kim Hock
Corporation, which is claimed to have
Singapore’s only shredder, a 4 000 tonne
HP Harris machine. The most interesting
part of the company’s operations is a bio-
waste plant that provides energy for the
recycling machines, material handlers and
electricity in the office building. A con-
stant inflow of green waste from gardens,
parks and trees in the tropical island state
is used to heat the incinerator. Lim, who
has a technical background and educa-
tion, developed the plant himself.

Dhawal Shah (India)
‘Recycling is good karma.’ A
partner at scrap metal trade

firm Metco, Shah is a true ambassador for
his country and its recycling sector.
Talking with this commerce graduate from
Mumbai helps to better understand India.
‘We have to undo decades of inefficiency
and corruption but the good days will
come. This is all work in progress. I think
recycling activity is at helm of bringing
socio-economic transformation.’
What does he love about his job? ‘Skilled
human hands and modern machines like
heavy media separators and sensors
working in harmony give me an adrena-
line rush. Beyond that, dealing with super
crazy markets and doing business in 40
different countries is also very exciting.’
Shah is vice-president of the Metal
Recycling Association of India, serves on
the metals committee of the Federation
of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry and is also divisional president
for non-ferrous at BIR.

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Shelley Padnos (USA)
Padnos has been a well-known name in
the American scrap business for almost

four decades. Her family company, based in
Holland, Michigan, first opened its doors in 1984
and she is proud it now spans four generations.
‘We have 20 locations where we treat metals,
paper, plastics and e-scrap and operate 13 recy-
cling centres throughout Michigan where the pub-
lic and small businesses can recycle their scrap,
including used electronics, for quick payment.’ This
year, in recognition of her ongoing contributions to
the sector, the Institute of Scrap Recycling
Industries awarded Padnos its Lifetime
Achievement Award. During the awards ceremony
she called on to fellow recyclers to bring more
diversity to the sector: ‘We can still use a lot more
of that. Hire somebody who does not look like you
and our industry will be better off.’

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