The Belgrade recycling company Eko Unija SN is planning serious investments in this and the next two years, despite the difficulties in doing business due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although they are currently operating at 80% capacity, they are entering the business of building a foundry and a municipal gas processing plant into synthetic gas.

The main activity of the company, which was founded eight years ago, is the collection, sorting, cutting, baling and trade in non-hazardous waste, and since 2017, they have been expanding their business to dismantling and demolishing plants and equipment.

– Thus, we have provided the process of preparation of materials for collection and recycling, and that is why we are unique among well-known recyclers in Serbia. In the last two years, we have focused primarily on metal, ie iron and steel waste and other waste materials with a predominantly iron component – says for eKapija the owner and CEO of Eko Unija SN, Aleksandar Milovic.

He adds that this integrated service shortens the complete logistical flow of the disposal of generated waste, which is a significant benefit for customers who are large waste generators.

This year, he points out, the way is opened for the development of a recycling center that will not only collect, prepare and store goods until they are sent for full treatment, but will also treat or completely recycle goods.

The recycling center, ie the foundry, will be built in Stara Pazova, and construction will begin at the end of the summer.

– The idea of ​​the Eko Unija SN is to completely complete the path of secondary goods from the waste generator, through the collector to the recycler, so that the secondary raw material is finalized into a finished product through the foundry – says Milovic and adds that for this project it is worth between 200 and that the company also received 250 million dinars in support from the Development Fund.

According to him, the goal is to produce ingots and castings from non-ferrous metals, as well as alloys for the electric power industry and the automotive industry of Serbia.

– Negotiations are underway with German companies that are opening industrial plants in Serbia, and we would appear as suppliers of parts needed by this industry. The planned capacity of the foundry is 2,500-3,000 tons per year, and with the opening of the foundry, there will be a need to hire 50 new workers – Milovic says for eKapija.

The production process is expected to start at the end of 2021, ie at the beginning of 2022, and that is not the end of investments.

– From the next year, we will start a project that offers a sustainable solution for managing growing mountains of waste. It is a plant that will be realized in cooperation with local governments, and is used for processing municipal waste with UHTH technology, which converts a large number of low-quality material (waste) into a high-quality product (synthetic gas). The technology is completely in line with the laws on environmental protection, and offers a solution that is in line with the motto of the future – “0 waste”, and the pilot plant was set up in Switzerland and passed trial testing – reveals Milovic.

He adds that this plant, whose construction is expected at the end of 2022, will process 8,000 tons of waste per year.

Source: Ekapija