GreenGroup opens third GreenWEEE recycling plant, with electric motor recycling line

The new plant, located on the Frasinu industrial platform in Buzău, is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, following a €15 million investment. With the expansion of the processing lines, the company's total recycling capacity has increased to 140,000 tons per year.

Since 2009, GreenWEEE has recycled 400,000 tons of WEEE through its three factories, the two in Buzău and the one in Câmpia Turzii, recovering more than 98% of the materials, which are then reintegrated into the economy as secondary raw materials.

On the occasion of this inauguration, GreenWEEE announced that it has also finalized a €2 million investment to recycle electric motors. The expansion of the recycling capacity is an important step in the company's mission to maximize the recovery of materials such as iron, aluminum, copper, copper, plastic or glass and to reintroduce these valuable resources back into the production cycles.

In a global context where the amount of e-waste is rapidly increasing, GreenWEEE has the capacity to recycle up to 1,000,000 refrigerators annually, with a particular emphasis on the recovery of hazardous substances. The modern factory facilities are designed to extract the freon efficiently and with maximum safety, because two thirds of the freon contained in a refrigerator is in the polyurethane foam and one third in the cooling system. Just by recycling a fridge, GreenWEEE saves the CO2 equivalent of the emissions of a car that circles the planet twice.

Marius Costache, CEO of GreenWEEE said: "We have a promise, which we are constantly renewing, to expand the infrastructure and recycling capacity for e-waste, but also to extract as much value as possible from it. The importance of recycling, which benefits multiple industries by providing resources in the form of secondary raw materials, cannot be underestimated. In 15 years of operation, hundreds of thousands of tons of metals, plastics, plastics, plastics from recycling have become products that we use in our daily lives. This essentially means that we are a pillar of the circular economy, actively contributing to waste reduction and resource efficiency."

Alexandra Maria Bocșe, State Adviser at the Department of Climate and Sustainability of the Presidential Administration, emphasized the essential link between the economy and climate change: "The new climate reality comes with many challenges for consumers and business at the same time. There is initiative from industry, and this is very important, because if we only have public policies and legislation, but no industry, no operators collecting, sorting, processing waste, we cannot implement environmental and climate policies.
And measures linked to the circular economy are very important in order to achieve the climate objectives that have been set. If we manage to reuse certain materials, we reduce the carbon footprint of industrial processes, with positive implications for climate change mitigation."

Since opening its first plant in 2009 in Buzău, GreenWEEE has been at the forefront of the recycling industry, continuously expanding its operations. In 2017, the company opened a new factory in Câmpia Turzii, specifically dedicated to the recycling of refrigeration appliances and cathode ray tubes. The year 2020 marked the launch of the first recycling line for flat screens, LCDs and plasmas in Southeast Europe, strengthening its influence and ability to respond to today's environmental challenges and economic demands.

The company is the only facility in Romania and one of the few in Europe with a WEEELABEX operating license, across five treatment streams. The WEEELELABEX standard is the highest form of standard recognition for the collection, logistics and treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

GreenWEEE is the market leader in Romania in the treatment and recycling of WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment), batteries and components from the automotive industry. The company operates in three plants, in Buzău and Campia Turzii, with a total treatment capacity of 140,000 tons/year, more than 350 employees and a total investment of €40 million.

GreenGroup is a regional integrated recycling group and a pioneer of the circular economy, with more than 20 years of activity. GreenGroup is a leading player on the European market in PET recycling and polyester fiber production, as well as a key player in electronics recycling, waste glass and industrial waste management. Since 2016, the majority shareholder is Abris Capital Partners, one of the leading private equity investors in Central Europe.