49recyclinginternational.com | July/August | 2022
Federica Foterni (Italy)
Most refrigerators and washing machines on the Italian island of
Sardinia ultimately end up in the shredder at West Recycling.
From a bone-dry industrial zone outside Cagliari, Federica Foterni leads a
solid e-scrap business under challenging conditions.
Like elsewhere, Sardinia could not escape from Covid. The good news is,
West Recycling saw the influx of e-scrap explode, a result of the severe lock-
down. ‘Since people could not go out for lunch or dinner, many suddenly
needed bigger fridges at home. You could see a lot of replacement, which
means sooner or later these the old and discarded devices end up at our
yard.’
Sardinia may be a remote recycling outpost but that does not mean the
state of recycling on this Mediterranean island is underdeveloped, proves
Foterni, who has serious plans to introduce robotic arms at the washing
machine dismantling line along with an update of the refinery lines.
Henry Sobieraj (Germany)
Managing director at Nickelhütte Aue, a EUR 200-plus million
turnover multi-metals recycler which is part of the Jacob Metal
Group. By 2026 the company will have invested EUR 15 million doubling its
current electric vehicle battery recycling capacity. The Aue plant currently
handles up to 7 000 tonnes of batteries but ‘with huge volumes of EV bat-
teries rolling in over the coming years the best is yet to come and we’ll be
prepared’.
Sobieraj has an interesting background. He grew up in the German
Democratic Republic as son of a cable recycler. Before joining the recycling
sector, he served in the GDR Navy, sailing the Baltic Sea.
Marc Ehrlich (Switzerland)
Smart entrepreneur and recovered paper recy-
cler, Ehrlich is always looking for opportunities
to grow his business and company, Vipa. To get better
control within all major sourcing regions, Vipa has recently
launched Vipa Japan, Vipa UAE and Vipa Ireland, ‘and
we’ve also started a metals division and a prime paper
division.’ Vipa USA, which started in 2019, is growing year-
on-year.’
Summarising the company activities, the entrepreneur
says: ‘Altogether, more than 100 000 maritime containers
of circular economy.’
Ehrlich believes the biggest change in the paper recycling
business will come from legislation.
David Dodds (UK)
Featured on pages 16-19 in this issue of Recycling
International, the managing director of Sackers Recycling
(UK) learned the recycling industry from scratch. ‘I worked in the
yard, I was a crane driver, cut steel with oxyacetylene cutters,
worked on the weighbridge and sat in the office to map out the
schedule for the lorries. That was my education in the scrap busi-
ness.’ Today Dodds heads a multi-million-pound enterprise doing
business all over the world and securing its future by focusing on
scrap quality. Sackers is investing EUR 3 million in a new plant and
technology to increase volume by 56% on infrastructure and
improve efficiencies and output.
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John Sacco (USA)
Recycler, recycling machinery producer,
podcast host and, most recently, documen-
tary maker. ‘I love recycling but I also love doing these
other things’, the entrepreneur from Bakersfield told RI
during the latest ISRI convention. With his podcast and
videos he wants to inspire others and convince the
broader public of the importance of recycling. We
admire Sacco’s creativity and passion.
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