New ReMA Member Spotlight: Ad Rem

With their HQ based in Belgium and a North America location in Virginia Beach, VA, Ad Rem specializes in the research, design, engineering, and construction of machinery for the recycling, mineral, and food-processing industries. These machines rely on a wide range of different technologies.

ReMA News spoke with Fred Cornell, Business Development Manager at Ad Rem, about the company, how he learned about ReMA, and where he sees the recycled materials industry moving forward in the next several years.

Tell me about yourself and the company.

Ad Rem makes separation equipment for shredder residue, both automotive shredder residue (ASR) and the residue that comes off recycled electronics. We facilitate the recovery of metals and the recovery of plastics. The company is a joint venture between Group Galloo and the Valtech Group. Group Galloo is one of the largest recycled materials companies in Europe and Valtech Group is a holding containing 15 niche market engineering and construction companies that are mainly active in, or closely connected to, the recycled materials industry.

I've been in the industry for about as long as ReMA President Robin Wiener. I started as an environmental consultant, and my client base was the recycled materials industry. I was hired by a recycled materials company in 1997, and I've been working for recycled materials companies ever since.

How did you hear about ReMA?

I've been involved with ReMA for a long time. I'm a former New York Chapter President and former New Jersey Chapter President. I was also a past chair of the Recycling Education and Research Foundation (RERF), and I was one of the people who helped get the fundraising off the ground for the Recycling Industry Operation Standard™ (RIOS™) during its early development.

What are the short- and long-term goals for Ad ReM?

Ad Rem's primary goal is to introduce our technology to the U.S. market. It's widely used in Europe already. Galloo operates six of our plants. If you look at the plants that Galloo runs, the company has metal plants and a plastics recycling operation. Galloo plastics has been selling ASR plastic into the automotive industry for almost two decades. The U.S. may already be familiar with our technology, but they aren't necessarily intimately familiar with it yet. Our goal is to introduce it to U.S. companies so they can see how the technology might be useful in their operations.

Where do you see the recycled materials industry moving forward?

I think the global infrastructure is still very focused on the circular economy and sustainable operations. For recycling that means recycling should continue to improve. When I started in the industry eddy currents were new, 10 years prior, all the nonferrous metals in shredder residue when to the landfill. Now if you look at the technology in the U.S. almost everyone is recovering between 70-85% of nonferrous metals but very few are recovering a significant amount of plastic.

Plastic is becoming a major focus because the EU just finalized regulations that mandate a certain percentage of recyclable plastic in vehicles. I think those regulations will help spur a global approach to plastics recycling. I think we're going to see a focus on improving plastics recycling as more companies and people want to participate in the circular economy.