Barely a month goes by without the owner of Elektrorecykling announcing a new project or solution to tackle complex materials or to boost his business. The company reports ‘double digits annual growth in volumes in all streams between 15 to 20%’ only two years after volumes shrank 50% in the pandemic.

Kubicki has recently invested EUR 5 million in smart tech for granulating plastics and another EUR 7 million will be pumped into a second new line next year. He is sees great opportunity in polymers and solar panel recycling and has announced expansion of a new branch in Poland.

Sutton was appointed executive director at Tire Stewardship British Columbia nearly ten years ago. Under her leadership the organisation, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has vastly improved tyre recycling schemes. Sutton reports that more than 100 million end-of-life tyres have been recycled in British Columbia since the stewardship’s operations began. ‘Today, more than five million scrap tyres are recycled every year into new, durable, and environmentally friendly products, re-purposed within the province,’ she says.

Daviduk was at the cradle of a revolutionary bottle-to-bottle concept. In 2018, rPlanet Earth opened a ‘one of a kind’ integrated PET bottle and food packaging recycling plant in Vernon, Los Angeles. The 28 000 m2 facility has proved a major boost for plastics recycling capacity in southern California.

More than US$ 100 million (EUR 95 million) was invested in smart technology for the construction and design of the site, which includes earthquake proof foundations.

Daviduk plans four other facilities in the US, all at least as big as the LA plant. Or, as rPlanet Earth puts it: ‘90% of plastic is not recycled. Let’s change that together’.

It’s the second time Biddle has made the Top 100! The story of this entrepreneur, who currently runs 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.’

Saving and ultimately recycling the ever-growing stream of PET bottles heading for the oceans may seem mission impossible 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.

Following a career in education, Houghton found her calling at the Plastic Recycling Corporation of California. After 16 years, she was appointed executive director in 2021. Houghton also has an important voice at the Bureau of International Recycling where she serves on the plastics committee.

She wants the current collection infrastructure to be modernised and an end to ‘outdated’ bottle bills in the US. ‘Legislators don’t understand the industry and the complexities of successful recycling. Rather than take the time to do a deep dive and educate themselves, they tend to pander to public opinion and perceived environmental fixes.’

Barnes heads Gen2Carbon, previously known as ELG Carbon Fibre, and counts as a respected carbon fibre recycling expert. The company ensures end-of-life material from various industries, notably the automotive and aerospace sectors, flows back into the loop in ‘premium’ condition. The company is collaborating with Boeing to transform aerospace-grade composite material into products such as electronic accessories and automotive equipment.

Big companies are getting more involved with recycling and Mitsubishi is a good example, having set up Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials in Germany to work out the best way to recover carbon fibre. Rademacker has been leading this niche venture as general manager since 2011.

He oversees the pilot plant that has been constructed in Wishhaven which boasts an innovative recycling line combining pyrolysis and shredding to yield a carbon fibre and polypropylene blend called CFK. ‘It contains 35% recycled content, a great starting point for such a complex material,’ Rademacker says.

Previous ISRI chair heads a family owned tyre recycling business in ‘fly-over state’ Kansas. Five million scrap tyres pass through his hands each year. Champlin Tire Recycling services six US states. It also manufactures park benches and picnic tables.

Managing director Gary Champlin (left) has been in the recycling business since 1992. Recycling is a business of relationships and recyclers could not see themselves working in any other sphere, he observes.

‘I feel exactly the same way about our family’s recycling business. The sense of accomplishment is shared by the entire family and not just as an individual performing at work. The success of a family business will be enjoyed beyond the business itself.’

It’s impossible to talk ocean plastics without mentioning the founder of The Ocean Cleanup. The Dutch entrepreneur gained fame for developing a floating system that catches marine litter. Recycling International met him at the beginning of his journey, shortly before the system was deployed off the coast of San Francisco and has tracked his progress since.

His latest systems are mobile units deployed in rivers in Malaysia and Indonesia and an ‘Interceptor Fence’ in Guatemala. The latter is home to the River Motagua, the world’s most polluted waterway, which is Slat’s next big project.

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