61recyclinginternational.com | July/August | 2021
RecyclingInterna�onal
TOP
100
2021
Esethu Cenga, ceo for ReWoven (South Africa)
Cenga is a proud textiles recycling pioneer active in the Cape
Town area. Rewoven, which she launched in 2018, creates quality
fabric from recycled textile waste diverted from landfill. The company col-
lects off-cuts generated by clothing manufacturers in the production pro-
cess. The material is sorted and processed into fibres which are then re-spun
and re-woven. ‘Our recycled fabric is the same quality as that of virgin cot-
ton,’ Cenga exclaims. She insists that sustainability is a natural part of
African culture as its people are ‘inherently connected to nature’ and want
to extend the lives of products as long as possible.
Dave Hakkens, founder
of Precious Plastic (The
Netherlands)
Hakkens is an engineer inspired by sustainability
and the sharing economy. He founded Precious
Plastic in 2013 to provide proven recycling equip-
ment for plastic scrap that can easily be built and
operated at home. The Dutch entrepreneur made
sure the blueprint for his machinery was available
online as ‘open source’ documents so that anyone
could become a recycler. Hakkens says he identifies
more with the word ‘inventor’ than ‘businessman’
and is excited that more people are ordering a
‘starter kit’ to begin recycling line at home.
Karle Recycling (Germany)
Karle Recycling of Stuttgart saw its business shrink
by 20% during the coronavirus crisis but company
partner and ceo Stephan Karle says it’s no time to complain:
‘There’s work to be done.’ On a yearly basis, the company
processes some 400 000 tonnes of scrap, including metals.
On average, half of the ferrous and non-ferrous scrap is
exported to smelters in Luxembourg and Italy while the rest
remains in Germany. Karle is an advocate of handling scrap
as locally as possible. ‘Why ship high quality stuff across
oceans to far away places when you can sell locally at almost
the same price and sometimes even a better price?’
91
90
24-25-26-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-36-37-38-39-40-41-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-58-59-60-61-62-63_top100.indd 61 08-07-21 08:57
