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FLYING HIGH IN THE CARIBBEAN AND BEYOND
Among the 1 700-plus delegates in Copenhagen were Dilia Rosado Jimenez (left) and
Keith Bolton (middle). They run the Acudom recycling company in Santo Domingo, the
capital of the Dominican Republic which is the largest economy in the Caribbean.
Acudom processes some 500 tonnes of non-ferrous metals per month. Materials are collect-
ed from all over Hispaniola, an island divided by two countries: on the eastern side is the
Dominican Republic while Haiti is on the west.
Although the entrepreneurs have their hands full running the yard, they’ve expanded the
business with an aircraft recycling division. ‘A niche market, sure, but I’ve always had a pas-
sion for aviation so it was easy to step in,’ says Bolton, who is currently involved in a major
aircraft dismantling project near Tuscon, Arizona in the US southwest. This region is known
for aircraft ‘graveyards’ housing hundreds of commercial and military end-of-life airplanes.
‘Obviously, you need local partners and local machines to do the job so we lease yard space
and tools and get paid by the scrap which we trade to the best buyer,’ Bolton explains.
Acudom also scraps aircraft in Europe and Asia.
Meanwhile the company is involved in another type of business. At the BIR show, Bolton and
Jimenez signed a dealership contract with Germany’s shredder supplier Hammel. Bolton and
Jimenez now represent Hammel in the Caribbean. ‘A huge market with big potential,’ says
Hammel’s Christina Elter (right). ‘We already have shredders in operation on Guadeloupe
and Martinique, among other islands, and there is room and need for more shredder capaci-
ty in the future.’
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