Creating value from waste IL Recycling

are finding that this is appealing to customers outside Europe. With the guaranteed quality and performance of our products in both the bicycle and doors and windows business areas, customers certainly value and appreciate our dedication to delivering the highest quality in everything we do.”

Axa Stenman’s growth outside of Europe is largely concentrated in Asia, with Mr Grefhorst explaining that many of the world’s main bicycle manufacturers are relocating at least part of their production to this part of the world. He added, “We are very happy to follow our customers wherever they go in the world. We will always deliver our European quality components to anywhere in the world. In fact, we are continually looking for opportunities to expand and develop; while we do have a specific target market for new business, we are always open to opportunities.”

With Axa Stenman’s current core markets of Benelux, Germany and across eastern Europe all performing well, its open-mindedness towards new opportunities highlights how this ambitious company aims to grow in the coming years. Mr Grefhorst concluded, “We see our future growth as maintaining our excellent performance throughout Europe as well as making the most of the interesting and exciting opportunities we see in new markets, particularly in Asia. This organic expansion will be supported by our long-term appreciation of the importance of innovation; by continually innovating our existing products and staying close to our customers in order to develop new products, we are sure that our success story will continue.” n

Focused on excellence in electronics.

• Global market purchasing • Automatic SMT assembly • Reflow and vapour phase soldering • Automatic optical inspection (AOI) • Manual THT assembly • Wave and selective soldering • In–circuit and functional testing • Final (mechanical) assembly • Shelf-ready packaging • Plastic injection and PCB production* • Water-jet cutting*

(* in the other companies within Electra group)

EMS-Electra - Bd. Chimiei 8, 700291, Iasi, Romania T: +40 232 244. 942 | E: office@ems-electra.ro | www.ems-electra.ro

CREATING VALUE FROM WASTE

IL Recycling is a Swedish recycling company with operations in Sweden and Poland. It has been working to supply manufacturers in various industries with raw materials for over 60 years. Industry Europe looks at how the company works to improve efficiency.

Since its establishment over 60 years ago, IL Recycling has grown into one of the world’s largest full-service recycling and waste management companies, handling virtually all kinds of materials. IL is a recycling company with national operations in Sweden as well as several locations in Poland – in Warsaw, Poznan, Gorzow and Katowice, where it uses the local brand name First Recycling.

A company spokesperson says: “IL Recycling has four owners, all Swedenbased paper mills. They are Fiskeby Board, SCA, Smurfit Kappa and Stora Enso. We were originally created by our paper mill owners to provide them with recycled fibre – but for some recycled products, the best sales opportunities are to be found outside Sweden. In that case, we make sure that we find suitable customers abroad and arrange transport. For example, we export highgrade fibres to Germany, Italy and Spain.”

Fields of expertise

IL Recycling’s 700+ employees have expertise covering the entire recycling process, from analysis, collection and transport of residual products to sorting, processing and delivery of recycled raw materials to industry. IL Recycling provides the vessels and containers for sorting and recycling, and handles the transport from the collection points to the recycling plants. IL Recycling also has the very latest technology in place, enabling it to offer the smartest solutions for efficient and above all profitable recycling.

IL’s core activities are paper and plastic, although other kinds of materials are also processed via business partners. Common materials and items that the company collects and processes include batteries, glass packaging, plastic packaging, metal packaging, corrugated board, electrical waste, light bulbs, newspapers and scrap metal.

The company handles waste left over from all kinds of operations, viewing waste as a valuable resource that often goes unused simply for lack of time or expertise. As well as