Griffin Refineries makes use of waste in emerging markets

Griffin Refineries has made a Joint Venture Agreement with one of Latin America’s leading waste management companies, KDM Empresas. The existing waste treatment plant in Santiago de Chile will be operated and further improved and developed by both companies together from August 2018. The partnership agreement was signed on Tuesday the 15th of May in Munich at the international IFAT trade fair for environmental technologies. Both parties together committed to an initial investment into the existing facility of 3 Mio USD. In the first year, the operation will produce an income of 2 Mio USD with the upside target to multiple in size by factor ten in coming 5 years.

“The project is an important act of opening for Griffin Refineries because Latin America and Middle East are among our most important focus areas. The waste recycling and refining are in those areas still in early stages and the amount of community waste is all the time increasing. In Latin America, 83 percent of the waste ends up at landfills and only four percent gets recycled”, tells the CEO of Griffin Refineries, Christian Abl.

The market potential of waste management exceeds 800 billion dollars

According to Griffin Refineries especially the production of plastic and the amount of plastic waste are increasing rapidly. Most of the plastic waste ends up at the landfills, but only 9 percent of the plastic is recycled globally. Griffin Refineries’ plants sort the plastic before being landfilled for reuse and make fuel or energy from the rest of the solid waste.

“The amount of waste will continue to increase significantly in the coming years. Recycling and refining it is not only an environmental issue but also a huge business opportunity. The cumulative investment potential into waste management facilities within the next 10-15 years is over 800 billion dollars.”

Griffin Refineries differentiates itself from the others by its global agility. The company always chooses the best refining technology according to the local needs and tailors every process.

“Extraordinary is also the fact that Griffin Refineries itself also invests in the plant together with the local partner and continues to operate the refinery”, says Christian Abl.

Griffin Refineries has got three other ongoing refinery projects in Europe and Middle East. In April, the company agreed on a public-private-partnership in the United Arab Emirates. The plant that costs 50 million dollars makes fuel for cement industry from the community waste of 500,000 people. That replaces the gas and coal that are in use now.

A development agreement with Saudi Arabian authorities under the umbrella of a Saudi – Finnish cooperation plan has been signed recently and marks the further path of the company in the Middle East.