Items filtered by date: Thursday, 14 January 2021

Norway: Synthetic fuel producer and chemical waste management specialist Quantafuel has bought a 40% stake in Geminor from Geminor Invest. The owners of Geminor Invest, chief executive officer (CEO) Kjetil Vikingstad and chief operation officer (COO) Ralf Schöpwinkel, will retain a 60% share of Geminor.

Vikingstad said “With Quantafuel as a partner we hope to achieve our goal of becoming a leading player in material recycling and energy recovery in Europe. In collaboration with Quantafuel we want to increase the proportion of plastic for material recycling, and by this actively contribute to a circular economy for plastics in Europe.” He added, “Together, the companies form a value chain from the collection, sorting and treatment of plastic waste all the way to the process of chemical recycling. Plastic will now become more important for Geminor, but the company also has a clear strategy to develop fractions and streams within waste wood, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), solid recovered fuel (SRF) and paper.” He said that the company will continue to develop more sustainable waste fractions and extract more waste plastic for chemical recycling.

Geminor Invest chair Arne Haldorsen said “The international community has major challenges within waste management, especially when it comes to handling ever-increasing amounts of plastic waste. To meet these challenges the waste industry is becoming more industrialised, and new recycling solutions are currently being developed internationally. Geminor wants to be a key player in this process, something we hope to achieve with Quantafuel as a partner and co-owner.”

Philippines: Holcim Philippines plans to invest US$2.5m on increasing its alternative fuels use until 2022. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim says it will spend the money on installing new equipment and improving storage and feeding facilities at its Bulacan cement plant in Barangay, Norzagaray. It also plans to support its Geocycle subsidiary in supplying higher amounts of post-consumer and municipal solid wastes.

“This investment ensures we can continue being a reliable partner in the country’s sustainable development, while also meeting our objectives of making our operations more efficient and respectful of nature,” said Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer (CEO) John Stull. In 2020 the company co-processed close to 130,000t of qualified wastes from local governments, industry partners and agricultural processors in its plants in Luzon and Mindanao led by its Geocycle unit.