A world's first in recycling at Metallo
Beerse (Belgium) | Monday, March 5, 2018
Flanders further expands the lead in the circular economy.
On March 5th, press and dignitaries gathered together at the site of Metallo Group in Beerse. Flemish minister Joke Schauvliege cut the ribbon for a brand-new, unique plasma oven. CEO of the Metallo Group, Dirk Vandenberghe, announced proudly: 'With this new installation we recycle low grade materials in an innovative way into high grade metals and minerals.' This event is a benchmark in the history of the company. Not only is the technology groundbreaking, the underlying thought also marks a small quantum leap in the perception of raw materials. This is how Metallo helps to form the future of the circular economy.
With the opening of this innovative installation the recycling company shows that they are ready for the future. In Dirk Vandenberghe's view, Metallo proves their ambition with this: 'We confirm that we play a worldwide pioneering role in terms of the circular economy.'
He continues: 'Our region is known as the Flanders Metal Valley. This is how that has grown historically: a large network of companies was able to treat each other's residual materials. This was how a valuable symbiosis arose. Because of that, Flanders is a pioneer in the world of recycling. Metallo now takes the lead and develops groundbreaking technology themselves to be able to covert low grade secondary materials even more into new raw materials. That shows the devotion to our mission and also our urge for renewal. The determination of our employees and the guts of our investors made this milestone possible.'
Vandenberghe also emphasizes the engagement of the employees: 'In less than five years we went from idea to realization of the project. The opening of the new installation is a benchmark in the history of our company, of which this generation of employees can be rightfully proud. Together we pushed the boundaries. Our plasma oven is unique after all: it is the largest oven in the world, of this specific type. The innovative installation brings us a step closer to our goal: adding value the circular economy, by converting low grade secondary materials into high grade metals and minerals.'
In short: behind the historical walls of the site in Beerse a driven team is working with cutting-edge technology about innovation and sustainable value creation.
Crushing orange peels
This is how Metallo formulates answers to the fundamental questions of our time: how do we, as a society, deal with the fact that our primary raw materials are becoming scarcer? How can we organize our economy circular and sustainable?
Mathias Chintinne, the man who in his function of R&D Manager with Metallo Group, helped push the development and the building of the new plasma oven into the right direction, applies himself to difficult questions like this every day. As an engineer he comes up with solutions for challenges like: how can we recuperate the materials as much as possible so that they can be used again?
Chintinne outlines the idea behind the new plasma oven with the use of a striking example: 'Compare our process with the squeezing out of an orange. Imagine that the orange is the secondary material, our raw material. At Metallo we refine the non-ferro metals from the secondary material, let's say the "juice" from the orange. The peel is the residual product with a low metal content. The orange press is the unique process of Metallo Group with which we have been able for years to still squeeze a little more juice from the peel of the orange. Now we take a radical next step. With our new installation we now make sure that the orange peel itself becomes a valuable product. Nobody has ever done that before.'
